At the Met, Disney gets its artistic due
Maybe art snobs will have second thoughts before looking down their noses at the artistry of Walt Disney.
No less an august institution than the Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition titled “Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts.”
“It is certainly a first-ever exhibition for the Met,” said Max Hollein, the museum’s French director, at a press preview for the show.
The Met’s Wolf Burchard saluted “Uncle Walt” as ranking “among the most influential artists this country ever produced,” saying both the great animator and the rococo artists of the 18th century had a similar goal with their art: To create “the illusion of movement.”
Burchard, associate curator of European sculpture and decorative arts, also wrote the comprehensive 240-page companion book for the exhibit.
In Hollein’s foreword to the book, he pays tribute to Disney as “a Hollywood dream maker.” ”It is hard to think of any other American who has had as far-reaching and long-lasting an impact on the visual arts,” Hollein wrote.
He also calls “Inspiring Walt
Disney” “a landmark event,” and it is a fascinating exhibit, with 60 18th-century European decorative works juxtaposed against 150 pieces of production artwork from Walt Disney Animation Research. Tapestries, ornate clocks and Sèvres porcelain share space with animation cells from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and sketches from “Beauty and the Beast.”
The accompanying wall panels engagingly explain the connections, and as Hollein put it, help give the viewer “a new appreciation” for both the work of Disney and the European artisans.
Look for references to European culture in classic Disney movies, including the Gothic Revival architecture in “Cinderella” and medieval influences on the design of “Sleeping Beauty.”
Twisty golden candlesticks and colorfully decorated teapots show us the artistic ancestors of Lumiere and Mrs. Potts from “Beauty and the Beast.”
A sculpture of a mournful lion, by German artist Johann Gottlieb Kirchner illuminates the artistic fascination with anthropomorphism — giving animals and inanimate objects human characteristics. That lion’s face, by the way, seems like a worthy ancestor to Disney’s Beast — closer to the final depiction than interesting conceptual artwork for the character, which gives him more monkey-like features.
Unexpected items thrilled the Disney fan in me: the iconic storybooks used in the opening of such films as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Sleeping Beauty” are on view, in protective glass cases. (The “Sleeping Beauty” tome is displayed in front of a particularly beautiful tapestry.) An installation of sketches depicting Cinderella’s transformation from scullery maid to belle of the ball becomes its own work of art.
Beyond the films, there are treats for theme-park buffs, too. A large-scale concept map of Disneyland has its own artistic qualities, with delicate graphite shading and engaging detail. It also shows a much taller and blockier castle than the Anaheim park would eventually build.
Herbert Rylan created the graphite drawing, under the guidance of Disney in 1953 while the entrepreneur was looking for investors for his California theme-park project.
“Inspiring Walt Disney” also details Disney’s lifelong interest in Europe, with curiosities such as home-movie footage of an early trip to the Palace of Versailles.
This isn’t the first time the Met has exhibited work from Disney’s studios. Back in 1938, the museum received a gouache on celluloid image of the “Snow White” vultures who watch the Witch meet her doom.
At the time, the acquisition of the work by Ward Kimball — one of Disney’s famed “Nine Old Men” animators — raised eyebrows.
“Disney’s watercolors … will be hung under the same roof with the greatest works of the greatest masters of painting, and the Metropolitan isn’t blushing about it,” wrote The Philadelphia Record. The quote hangs on the wall of the exhibition, near another fundamental question posed at the time — “It’s
Disney, but is it art?”
This exhibit clearly, educationally and entertainingly shows that it is.
‘Inspiring Walt Disney’ Where: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave. in New York City When: Through March 6 Cost: $25; $17 seniors; $12 students
Info: metmuseum.org
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