Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Mary Blair

I saw this concept art by mid-century animation designer Mary Blair on the wall at Illustration House the other day, and I was blown away by its jewel-like beauty. The colours really are as lovely as the jpg shows. According to the catalogue (you have to click through a few pages to find the full list), it was made for Disney’s 1948 Melody Time. The estimate is only about $2000, which is pretty low for original art by a very well known and loved artist, in my opinion. Oh and there’s a second one being offered too – but I’ll leave that for you to find on your own!

Gyo Fujikawa

I am also enamoured of this cute little illustration by Gyo Fujikawa. “Who?” you may ask? Fujikawa was another female illustrator working at approximately the same time as Mary Blair. She too worked for Disney, before turning to freelance and making children’s books. This image here is from her 1957 Child’s Garden of Verses. Fujikawa came to my attention recently because she appears to be the first woman illustrator to actively take part in the administration and volunteer activities of the Society of Illustrators, circa 1951, which is doubly impressive given her Japanese American background and it being right after the War.

Disclaimer: I hang out a lot at Illustration House. Yes, this is a shameless plug of sorts. But the artwork’s worth it.

If I were anywhere near Northern California I would definitely check this out.

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Fransisco has a Mary Blair exhibition running until March 18, 2008.

The retrospective is an “exhibition of the work of famed animation designer Mary Blair (1911-1978). One of the first women to work as a concept artist for Disney, Blair was responsible for the look of some of the key Disney films of the 1940s and 1950s including Cinderella and Peter Pan.”

Rumour has it, the exhibit is FREE tonight from 7pm-9pm. Check this out if you’re in the area as Mary Blair is a modern master and it’s a rare privilege to see her original work.

Also of interest:
Walt Disney Exhibition in Montreal
Mary Blair’s Meadow Gold Commercial
Mary Blair Overload
Book: The Art and Flair of Mary Blair

For all you vintage animation buffs out there, animator/story artist Fred Cline has posted a Meadow Gold commercial from the mid-50’s, produced by TV Graphics, Inc. of New York. What makes this particular commercial so special is that the characters are from Mary Blair’s popular Little Golden Book, “I Can Fly.” I’ve owned this book for years now and it’s interesting to see the little girl come to life, albeit in black & white. Still very charming. Also of note: TV Graphics was owned by Mary’s husband, Lee Blair, who used to work in story at Disney in the 40’s — and Lee’s brother was none other than Preston Blair, he of “Cartoon Animation” fame.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog (Can I just start calling it the ASIFAHAAPB?) continues asserting its dominance in the field of excellence by posting scans from Mary Blair’s out-of-print Baby’s House. A few months ago they also posted images from Blair’s Little Verses (Part One / Part Two).

And if you’re a fan of Mary Blair’s gorgeous work, then surely you have your copy of The Art And Flair Of Mary Blair : An Appreciation by now, right?