Art of Walt Disney (Hardcover)

by Christopher Finch (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in 1973, Finch’s classic book on the artistic innovations of Walt Disney has been revised and expanded several times, and with each edition his definition of "art" becomes more suspect. The book’s original material, much of which Finch wisely retains, patiently records the art, inventions and shrewd enterprises of the studio’s legendary early years, while offering a fascinating tutorial on the birth of animation. Seventy lavishly illustrated pages are devoted to the Mickey and Donald years, another 50 to the movies Snow White and Pinocchio. Walt Disney stars in these early chapters as an artistic Icarus whose prodigal budgets and "quest for perfection" pushed his production teams to unprecedented heights. An unapologetic apologist, Finch is always there to defend Disney (whom he considers "the ultimate auteur") against critics who have called him a "backward-looking" artist and even "an advocate of political authoritarianism." Such biases aside, the book manages to tell a rousing tale of Disney’s creative life—right up to his 1965 deathbed hallucination of the yet-unrealized Epcot Center. This new edition, however, also takes on Disney’s posthumous life, when his ambitions outlive his quirky personality and are carried out by foot soldiers called "imagineers." The sundry innovations of Tim Burton, Pixar and two Broadway spinoffs may loosely qualify as the "Art of Disney," but so, too, according to Finch, do the corporation’s war chest of "toontowns," movie rides and international theme parks. Boldly blurring the line between art and money, Finch’s sprawling hagiography of the Magic Kingdom touches down for a perfect Hollywood ending: "Perhaps the greatest achievement of Michael Eisner …," it concludes, "has been to build a company in which no creative endeavor need be aborted for lack of available funding."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
The Art of Walt Disney was first published in 1973. This major revision (some 50 percent of the text is new, with 200 new illustrations) carries the Disney story up to such current feature films as Pocahontas and even stories in production like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Finch (The Art of the Lion King, Hyperion, 1994) also continues his exploration of Disney's nonanimated enterprises: the live-action films, television productions, and Disney theme parks in the United States, Japan, and France. As one would expect, excellent full-color illustrations abound, although the type size has been reduced in comparison with the first edition, presumably for reasons of economy. Solomon (The History of Animation, LJ 12/95) takes a vertical approach to the Disney phenomenon, concentrating on the fascinating world of Disney-animated features that were never released for a variety of reasons. In doing so he draws on the resources of the studio's Animation Research Library, where he was able to take advantage of countless detailed drawings and notes preserved even for productions that never came to fruition?a common practice at Disney. In this volume the Disney connoisseur will learn about Disney projects like Chanticleer and Reynard, as well as a curious collaborative venture undertaken by Disney and Salvador Dali. Disney propaganda, training, and entertainment films made during World War II are detailed in one of the most fascinating chapters. Few Disney fans would associate the animation giant with such films as Four Methods of Flush Riveting or Prostitution and the War. As contributions to the history of animation, both volumes are essential for academic and American studies collections. Public libraries with limited budgets may opt for Finch's more broadly appealing book.?Janice Zlendich, California State Univ. Lib., Fullerton
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 451 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; Revised edition (September 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810919621
• ISBN-13: 978-0810919624
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #932,185 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book on the Art of Disney, July 31, 2000

By	Rick Mohr (Troy, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This book is packed with photographs, drawings and artwork from Walt Disney's life and from the Walt Disney Company. In addition to the all the images, there is a lot of good information about Walt Disney and the Disney Company in the text. Even the cover of this book is well done and attractive. Anyone could feel proud to have this book sitting on his or her coffee table.

The book was well researched and contains a lot of historical information about Walt Disney and the Disney Company. In terms of information on Walt, it is not as complete as some of the biographies of Disney that I read. However, it is a very good overview of Disney's life and a good chronology of the Disney Company.

I appreciated the way that the artwork was coordinated with the text and well explained. There is artwork and photographs from Disney's very early days all the way through to the 1990s. The author did not seem to miss anything in this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys the art of Walt Disney and the Disney Company and would like to know both a little better.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A few words of caution before you buy it..., January 18, 2006

By	mr. matt - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms (Hardcover)

This book gives good insight into the story of the Disney company. It was nice to hear an honest account of whether each movie was a success or failure with critics and audiences, though I feel some were a little shortchanged. A book of this size should have had a chapter (or at least a full page) dedicated to each movie. And while it is heavily illustrated, the text does not in any way rely on the pictures. I guess screen shots from the movies or brochure style pictures of the parks are "art" but based on the title I was expecting more unique in depth imagery like preproduction and concept art, storyboards, construction photos (from the parks).

If you have the older Concise edition of this book, then I don't think this one is necessary. So there are stills from a few more movies, but all the classics up to Fantasia 2000 are covered in the smaller book. Besides, the best of the new movies covered is Finding Nemo, and who doesn't have that on tape or DVD? Don't spend this much money on a few screen shots, just watch your movie. And I was particularly interested in seeing some of the new parks that weren't in the other book (California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea) but alas they accounted for about 3 pages. Just a warning because the annoying shrink wrap prevents anyone from flipping through to decide based on the contents whether or not to fork over that much money (and the cover is so enticing...).

If you have never read anything about Disney this is a great place to start, but if you already have a collection of Disney books (especially this one's concise ed.) then this one doesn't have much more to offer. And if your true passion is in the theme parks, don't let this deceptive title make you believe that equal emphasis is given to the "Magic Kingdoms". There are way better (and cheaper) books on that subject that will give you much more insight.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a puff piece, however spectacular the images may be, February 28, 2007

By	Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms (Hardcover)

This book goes through the entire Disney legacy, in what is supposed to be art criticism. As far as it goes, the text is pretty good, but they are mere accompaniments to the photos, which is the bane of many art/design books. Finch makes an effort at being comprehensive, though ultimately - if you read through the whole thing - it comes off as a vanilla milk shake, with virtually no depth and ultimately flattering to just about everything Disney.

Moreover, the beginning of the text is far stronger than the end, reflecting hte fact that this is an update. As such, the author worked much harder and dug deeper on the sections that covered Walt Disney's work and ideas directly - the subject of the first edition and far more interesting than later work - and then feels the rest is pasted on to update it. To cover the post-Walt Disney things, many of which represent great art in and of themselves - would merit an independent work like the first volume.

Futhermore, by separating the book into discrete sections devoted to film, TV, parks, etc., the author misses one of the most important aspects of the Disney company: its work is self-reinforcing through all the media. Thus, though the early TV shows did not get enough commercial sponsorship and hence lost money, Walt Disney viewed the shows as the ultimate tool to implant his brand in the minds of the young. Even the toys were part of this, though they are almost entirely neglected in this book. It all fits together, each part morphing into the others, which Finch fails to see.

The worst failing of this book, though, is its utter lack of analysis beyond crude evocations of historical context. Though purporting to be a critic, Finch does not ponder any of the company's impact on, or as a reflection of, American culture, particularly the dark side. Why do many people (myself not among them as I essentially love the DIsney legacy) despise the way the company transforms culture into its own immediately recognizable brand? What does it say about the American predilection to recreate realities, such as a mock European village, rather than seeking out the real thing (even at similar cost)? These are tough questions.

In the end, this reads like something directly out of a PR department. I enjoyed the images and some of the reconstrctions of the films. But this offers little in the way of true criticism.