Jungle Book, The Exhibit (Part 3)

 

The Making of a Masterpiece

The Jungle Book Exhibit - Part 3

Exhibition Catalog & Book

September 11, 2022

Just a few weeks ago, I received my copy of Andreas Deja's latest book showcasing the new Walt Disney Family Museum's special exhibit on the making of the Jungle Book.  Following up from my previous postings in July, this is part three of the exhibit shares some insights from the exhibition catalog/book.  

What a wonderful splendor for the eyes of any animation art fan and especially those who love art from the Jungle Book.  The exhibition and the book showcases artwork straight from Andreas Deja's personal animation collection.  Lavishly displaying all types of animation artwork, one will find beautiful concept pieces, layout drawings, production backgrounds, key masters setups and much more.

  

 

Lately, I have been enjoying production drawings in sequence.  I love to collect groups of animation drawings that you can hold in your hand flip to recreate the magic of animation.   It is quite a thrill to hold the original artist work and make characters come to life.  Of particular note, I especially loved seeing a number of double-page spreads, where Andreas shares sequential drawings from a number of Jungle Book characters:

•  Kaa, pages 48-49
•  Baloo, pages 84-85, 92
•  Mowgli, pages 88-89 
•  Baloo & King Louie,  pages 116-117 
•  King Louie, pages 122-123
•  Shere Khan & Kaa, pages 138-139 

While many of these sequences were some of my favorites in the book, many of them sadly didn't make it into the actual exhibition.  I would have loved to seen more of these drawings in person!  Additionally, throughout the book there are many other sequences showcasing other minor sequences that were fun as well.

Another favorite section of art showcased was the section on Shere Khan.  During the exhibition, I had never seen some many Shere Khan key masters in one place before.  It was a delight to see them all and wonderful again to see many of the them up close in the book.  

However, I again noticed that the booked did not include many of the images on display during the exhibit.  I had to reference back to my exhibit photos to refresh my memory and I noticed several of the Shere Khan pieces did not make it into the book.  Sadly, final frames from the film were instead included in numerous places throughout.   So, to get the full context of the exhibit, you just need to go and visit the exhibition before it closes!

Overall, I enjoyed book immensely and would recommend any animation art collector to add this to there library.  Much of the exhibition artwork is on display in the book along with many pieces from Andreas' collection that did not make it to the museum.  So, add the book you will get a more rounded perspective on his collection.   The book is not available on Amazon until later this fall, however, if you call the Walt Disney Family Museum website you can get a copy of the book sent to you much sooner!  

Additionally, if you are lucky enough to be a museum member, the latest newsletter booklet has a wonderful story on the new exhibit and features two articles that have conversations with Andreas Deja and Bruce Reitherman.  If you have any questions, leave me a comment!

 

 

Saludos Amigos!

Happy 79th Anniversary!

Released: August 24, 1943

This past week was the 79th anniversary of Walt Disney's seventh animated feature film, "Saludos Amigos."   The film had its world premiere on August 24, 1943 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil with the a subsequent release starting in Boston and the rest of the US later on February 6, 1943.  To commemorate the film, I thought I would share my only piece of animation art from the film, a wonderful production background an the Andean mountain landscape and village from the intro to the Penguin sequence.  I love this 12 field background because of the train theme and painting's overall subject.  It really stands out on its own as a wonderful little storybook painting.  If you watch the film, you will notice that the train was not originally in the painting and was added later by the studio for when they gave the painting away.  This painting reminds me of the scene from Dumbo when Casey Junior is singing & traveling in the film.   I love all things with trains!

Original Production Background, gouache on 12 field heavyweight paper

Artist: Various Studio, unknown

Acquired:  November 12, 2006

More wonderful details are also revealed on the backside of the painting.  Complete with production markings, the backgrounds appears to be filmed for the intro sequence on September 4, 1942.  I have never been able to make out the signatures, but it might suggest that studio artist, Art Riley had a hand in this painting somehow.  Art Riley is credited with layout and background on this film and it is very likely that he worked on this scene.  More research will have to be done to determine that!

So happy 79th anniversary to Saludos Amigos!

A Little Pixie Dust up on the Mountain

 

Brother Bear & Peter Pan

Well I was a little delayed with my latest posting as a friend had descended from the sky to come visit me this past week.  My neighbor, Terry Dufresne, who lives next to me in Kona, Hawaii and summers in Portland, Oregon spent a few days with us.  It was her first visit to Alaska.  She came up to visit us before heading to perform at a Tap Festival in Vancouver, BC.  

Terry packs a fiery punch and dances with every step she takes.  We had a great time showing her around Anchorage visiting unique places.  We took her to the Alaska Native Hospital Gallery displays, Fur Exchange and the Captain Cook monument to see our Sleeping Lady.  Next up was a fantastic ride in the Prince William Sound to see the splendor of Alaska's tidewater glaciers and marine wildlife.  We must have seen over 100 sea otters as well black Bears, eagles, dall porpoises and more.  So in honor of my fanciful friend from Oregon who spreads magic pixie dust where ever she travels, I am sharing two pieces of art today in her honor.

First up is a beautiful background painting from the film, Brother Bear by artist Greg Drollette.  This wonderful production background shows off the plein air California style of painting that was hallmark of the production backgrounds from this film.  

Original Production Background, watercolor on board

Artist: Greg Drolette

Acquired:  November 12, 2008

Next, I am sharing a delightful production drawing of Terry's favorite character, Tinkerbell.  This rough animation drawing is from the sequence where Tink dips her toes into Captain Hooks inkwell to mark the spot on the map where the Lost Boy's hideout is located.   I shared this drawing with Terry one night after dinner.  I love the way Tink "dances" through air just like my friend Terry!

 

Original Production Drawing, graphite on 16 field animation paper

Artist: Unknown

Acquired:  August 27, 2007

Happy 76th! Make Mine Music

Released:  August 15, 1946

Hello folks!  It has been a busy week, so this weeks' post will be a simple one.  I wanted to celebrate the 76th anniversary this past Monday on August 15 of the release of Walt Disney's eighth animated feature film, Make Mine Music.  To celebrate, I thought I would repost this wonderful production cel setup with master background commemorating the day!

Original Production Cel Setup on production background, gouache on trimmed celluloid, watercolor on board

Artist: Various Studio, unknown

Acquired:  June 15, 2007

I have had this production cel setup for many years now and have always enjoyed the fun and happy musicality of the piece.  It is comprised of a number of cels trimmed to outline and applied to a screen used production background from the same sequence.  It was originally sold through Courvoisier Galleries back in the 1946.   The film featured the musical talents of many contemporary Amercian artists popular in the day such as Benny Goodman, the Andrew Sisters and more.  

This production setup is from the sequence, "After You've Gone" performed by the Goodman Quartet.  The segment features a somewhat psychedelic interpretation of musical instruments coming alive and a pair of two figures dancing on a keyboard.  The background can be seen about 44 minutes in the films.   Unfortunately, it did not do well at the box office like most features in 1940's post the World War, but over time it has earned back its original cost of $1.35 million.     

Happy 80th Bambi!

 

Bambi - A Masterpiece from the Golden Age

Released:  August 9, 1942

Original Theatrical Poster Release

On August 9 we commemorate the 80th year since Bambi's original release in London by the Walt Disney Studio in 1942.   Bambi was the fifth animated feature added to Disney's film catalog.   It was later released to audiences in the United States on Thursday August 13 starting in New York. 

Based upon the Viennese author Felix Salton's book of the same name, Disney was approached by MGM director, Sidney Franklin, about producing an animated film.  Franklin had previously purchased the rights to the story in 1932 but could not seem move the project along at MGM.  Walt was very interested in the story and once Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs were nearly complete in late 1936, Walt Disney acquired the rights from Franklin and began production and collaboration on Bambi as early as the spring of 1937 and a more earnest progression into production around the summer of 1939.

Bambi has proven to be one of the more successful features from golden age.  With a total budget of $858,000 for production, Bambi has went on to gross to date approximately $268,000,000 worldwide.

As a celebration of the film, I thought I would share a couple of production drawings from the film.  One of things that I have found very interesting was the level of craftsmanship in the creation of the drawings, cels, production backgrounds and concept art from the film.  In a previous post on Bambi, I shared a story about my first cel setup from the film of Bambi and his mother walking in the forest.  The level of detail that the artist put into such tiny cels drawings for these shots was remarkable considering how small the characters were in the film.  Just look at the drawing of Bambi and level of detail in the character for an image that is physically two inches square!  Walt Disney took the realism with animation to a whole new level.  

Original production drawing, colored pencil and graphite on 16 field animation paper

Artist:  Disney Studio, unknown

Original production drawing, colored pencil and graphite on 16 field animation paper

Artist:  Disney Studio, unknown

 

Original production Cel Setup, Courvoisier studio prepared setup

Artist:  Various Disney Studio, unknown.

 

Happy 80th Anniversary to Bambi!

 

"Unfortunately, I Know a Little Magic!"

 

Pat Caroll

Ursula, The Little Mermaid

B. May 5, 1927, D. July 30, 2022

This past Thursday July 30, the animation world lost the memorable and talented voice artist, Pat Caroll.  Cast to play the villain in the Disney's animated feature, the Little Mermaid, released in 1989, Pat Caroll's distinctive voice brilliantly brought the character of Ursula to life.   Her deeper pitched tone, the rich subtleties of emotion in her voice and her dramatic flair really exuded the deliciousness of Ursula's character.  She was perfectly cast to play this part and she also sang the passionate and dramatic musical number, "Poor Unfortunate Souls!"

Original Production Drawing

Artist:  Disney Unknown

Graphite & colored pencil on 16 field animation paper

Pat Caroll will be missed....a truly "Fortunate Soul!" that will live on for all of us to enjoy everytime we enjoy the Little Mermaid.  Thank you for giving us such a memorable performance and may you rest in peace.

                                                    Original Production Drawing

                                                    Artist:  Disney Unknown

                                                    Graphite & colored pencil on 16 field animation paper

  

Remembering Alice!

 

Alice in Wonderland  

Released this week in 1951

A couple of interesting things to note for this week, Walt Disney released "Alice in Wonderland on July 26, 1951 in London.  The subsequent release in the US occurred just days later on July 28, 1951 in New York city with the rest of US seeing the film even later in September.  Unfortunately, the film did not do well initially at the box office due to a number of reasons, ranging from perceived complicated plot lines, poor adaptation of the book to film and the general public sentiment at the time.  As result of this, Disney later released the film on Television more widely in the US.  I did not previously know this about the film.  Alice in Wonderland was never fully re-released in theaters in the US until well after Walt's passing in 1974.  It did very well and was subsequently released again in theaters in 1981.

I have always liked the film and in particular the whimsical characters from the various stories and subplots.  I think they lent themselves really well to animation and I love the way Disney made the stories less complicated and more fun in my opinion.  I was ultimately inspired by Disney's film to acquire an original book released at the time of Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodson) and to read the original story in the same format as a child would have around 1872.  I had never read the books prior to this and enjoyed the experience.  More on that at another time.

Much later into my animation art collecting, I decided it would be fun to collect cels of some of the whimsical characters.   The very first of which I acquired was a cel of the dog-e-pillar and cat-e-pillar.  I love this simple cel setup as it displays a moment from the "Golden Afternoon" sequence.  You can read a bit more about this cel on previous posting I made in June of 2013. 

Also, If you haven't already discovered, there is wonderful book I just received this summer that showcases artwork from Alice in Wonderland.  Published out of France by Huginn & Muninn in collaboration with Disney and authored by Pierre Lambert, "Alice au Pays des Merveilles" is wonderful coffee-table book beautifully displaying artwork created during the production process for the film.  While not as lavishly printed as Pierre Lambert's earlier books on Sleeping Beauty or Jungle Book, it is still an edition worthy of every animation library.  With over 200 pages from cover to cover, this hardbound edition showcases everything from production drawings, key master setups to concept artwork.  I highly recommend acquiring this book.

 

 

After spending a few hours revelling in the pages of this beautiful book, I was very happy to discover the production background that matches my dog-e-pillar & cat-e-pillar cel setup on page 113.  What a nice surprise!