Once Upon a Time: Walt Disney: The Sources of Inspiration for the Disney Studios (Hardcover)

~ Bruno Girveau (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

What makes the Disney Studio feature films produced between 1937 and 1967, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, and Fantasia, "masterpieces of animation"? One pivotal factor was reliance on an ardently assembled studio library of "iconographic sources." Art historian and curator Girveau and his contributors elucidate the tremendous influence European fables, fairy tales, illustrations, and paintings had on Walt Disney and his studio artists. Works by Heinrich Kley, Pieter Bruegel, Gustave Doré, Honoré Daumier, Arthur Rackham, Lewis Carroll, and Beatrix Potter are juxtaposed with stills from the films, and, even more pleasingly, remarkably expressive preliminary drawings by such talented (and shrewdly well-trained) Disney artists as Mary Blair, Gustaf Tenggren, and Kay Nielsen. One intriguing chapter covers the short-lived collaboration between Disney and Salvador Dalí in the mid-1940s, a project resurrected by Disney's nephew Roy, in 2003, while another showcases the use of Disney characters in pop art and contemporary works, thus bringing the exchange between high and low art full circle. This gorgeous and revealing volume deepens appreciation for Disney's brilliant, imaginative, and indelible creations. Seaman, Donna

Product Description

The origins of Disney's masterpieces and the works the studio in turn inspired are the subject of this lavishly illustrated book.

While the works of Walt Disney rank among the icons of American mass culture, it is easy to forget that Disney's characters and stories were inspired by original works of art. Now the sources that motivated Disney's imagination--and the artists that his studio in turn influenced--are brought to light. From the launching of the Walt Disney Company until the founder's death in 1967, this book includes more than 300 original works selected from the Disney archives and from private collections, together with paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, and film stills.

Here Disney fans will discover the fairy tales behind Sleeping Beauty and Snow White; they'll learn that Pinocchio's village was modeled on the mediaeval city of Rothenburg in Bavaria; that Bambi's forest took its inspiration from fifteenth-century Chinese painting; that Dumbo's bird's-eye views drew on the work of Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. One chapter is devoted to the mutually admiring relationship between Salvador Dali and Disney. Finally, the book looks at the myriad ways in which Disney's products became source materials for modern and contemporary artists, including Prokofiev and Leopold Stokowski as well as Christian Boltanski, Bertrand Lavier, Peter Saul, and Gary Baseman. A wonderful sourcebook for Disney enthusiasts, this colorful volume offers a unique perspective on the often-overlooked links between highbrow and popular culture.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 353 pages
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing (February 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 379133770X
• ISBN-13: 978-3791337708
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #534,665 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cool cultural collage, May 2, 2007

By	Julie Neal "The Complete Walt Disney World" (Sanibel Island, Fla.) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Wow! Whether you're an art lover, Disney fan, or simply fascinated by Western culture, you owe it to yourself to add this remarkable book to your collection. Much thicker than a typical coffee-table tome, this big, heavy art anthology was published as a companion to an art exhibition of the same name, which collected works from both the Disney archive as well as 50 museums worldwide. The exhibit was shown in Paris last fall and is currently (spring 2007) on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was compiled by Bruno Girveau, a principal curator at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris.

A delight to browse through, the book reproduces hundreds of original Disney pen-and-ink sketches, conceptual watercolors and actual production pieces for films from 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to 1967's "Jungle Book"; as well as many of the historic art pieces and other cultural material that inspired Walt Disney and his artists. For example, a section on the Evil Queen from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is brilliantly illustrated with a Gothic column statue from Naumburg, an 1898 French oil ("Woman in a Black Hat," George de Feure), a 1937 Disney production celluloid and a 1940 publicity shot of film actress Joan Crawford -- all of which appear to show the same person. (The text is good, too. This section includes a short essay pondering the effects of Walt Disney's hard-luck childhood.)

A chapter on pop art includes two interpretations of Donald Duck by Roy Lichtenstein and another by Andy Warhol -- and those are the dullest pieces! My favorite is David Mach's Matchstick Mickey, a real Mickey doll being eaten by a giant purple head made of nothing but purple matchsticks and glue. Other highlights in the book include more than a dozen gorgeous conceptual watercolors for "Alice in Wonderland" by Disney artists David Hall and Mary Blair, and a discussion that the Blue Fairy from "Pinocchio" is actually an animated homage to Hollywood's original blond bombshell, Jean Harlow.

My only gripe is the book's organization and index. The chapters are grouped not by film, but rather the exhibit's themes of "Disney's European Sources," "Walt Disney and Literature and Cinema," "Disney and Pop Art," etc.; and the index is only by artist. Still, what a find!

A nice companion book is Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard to nail this one down..., October 18, 2007

By	D. Mahdik "Denny Magic Studios" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here at Denny Magic Studios we make a point of acquiring anything and everything Disney, it's part of our ongoing education by being in the theme park design business. This passion surrounding the Disney brothers also dictated that we attend the traveling museum show on Walt which we found mesmerizing. However, although this book delivers some wonderful color plates and some good information all rolled into a beautiful coffee table presentation, and without chastising it in any way...we found that we were not too excited about it. There are several colored plates that seem to be rather rare, and the information seems well researched, but there was something that we could not put our finger on that kept it from being an exciting acquisition. Therefore we feel that if you are a die hard fan of Disney... then yes, you are going to want this book. If you are interested in Disney but not "fanatical" then you might want to wait until this one goes on sale.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chicken and Egg, August 22, 2007

By	B. Richards "libraryredo" (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Great book to see the images the Disney artists drew from for inspiration and design. Today the Disney images are considered the icons but to see their source material allows for an introduction to the original work, which is wonderful, and therefore have a deeper appreciation of each art form, both fine and animated. A worthwhile catalogue if you were unable to see the exhibit.