Document details

[Brochure an film program for an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, June 24-Sept. 6, 1981] Walt Disney is acclaimed throughout the world for his unique contribution to the art of animation and film. No single figure has so dominated this art form as he, and none has received so much popular and critical acclaim. Disney's films have captured the public imagination and the characters he created are part of the iconography of twentieth-century American culture. At the same time, they broke new ground in the aesthetics and techniques of animation. […] "Disney Animations and Animators" opens with a technical introduction to the tools and steps involved in producing an animated film. […] The next section focuses on the pioneer period of Walt Disney filmmaking (1927-32), beginning with the devolpment of Mickey Mouse.[…] The following section details and contrasts the Mickey Mouse films with the Silly Symphonies.[…] The role of the specific animators in creating the Disney films is presented in the next section of the exhibition.[…] How the Disney animators further developed personality in both characters and nature is explored in the next section.[…] The next to last section is devoted to "the nine old men," those animators who had the most profound effect on defining the distinctive quality of Disney animation.[…] The final part of the exhibition concentrates on the major feature films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Pinocchio, Fantasia , Dumbo , and Bambi. In addition to the animation drawings, backgrounds, and eels selected from the films, the sculptural and puppet models used to help create the characters are on display.[…] Disney character animation represents the most successful and sustained realization of a world within the film frame. Greg Ford's selection of works highlights the drawings as discrete items and as part of a process. The process concludes in the film projected onto the screen, and many of the most important Disney short films and features are being shown as part of this exhibition. In addition, throughout the galleries videotape monitors present individual sequences which illustrate the animation process. From this exhibition we can look again at the films and recognize familiar faces and actions— and appreciate what a rich and provocative body of drawing and film art Disney animations are. […]