Monday, November 19, 2007

The Art of Blair

Not Preston, but Mary ... (She's the one in the middle there, standing in the WED parking lot in 1965 ...)

The Cartoon Art Museum, up on Mission Street in San Francisco, is having a gallery show of Mary's work. And why should you hop a plane to go look at it?

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. Her colorful, charming geometric designs, synonymous with 1950s style, appeared in advertisements and children¹s books. Perhaps her most famous creation, however, is the Disneyland attraction It's A Small World, which Blair originally designed for the 1964 World's Fair ...

The exhibit's no doubt worth seeing, because Mary's work is always worth seeing.

7 comments:

DisneyDave said...

I was able to see the exhibit earlier this month. My favorite was a conceptual piece done for the "Baby Ballet," and another with horseman in dark colors and red capes created for Cinderella. She definitely had a style all her own.

Anonymous said...

Although I can appreciate the impact she had, Mary's work has always left me cold. Still, I hope the exhibit is a big success.

Anonymous said...

little did she know that her style would be copied over and over again by an endless parade of calarts students and cartoon network designers

Ward Jenkins said...

Gah, I hate anonymous comments. Especially ones that have no crucial merit or explanation in their initial thoughts. Cold? Really? Do tell, please. And "copied"? How so? Which ones? Do tell, please.

Otherwise, don't bother commenting.

Anonymous said...

Here's an anonymous comment for you Ward...you're kind of a jerk.
The guy above gave an opinion and just because you don't agree with him you go on a tirade...save it for something that's actually worth going on a tirade about.

Anonymous said...

Ward, I couldn't agree with you more...and the terribly nasty follow-up comment was really unnecessary. Hey "Anonymous", are you kidding me? Celebrating a great artist by calling someone a "jerk"! Here's hoping you have a great Thanksgiving Day, maybe kick a dog on the way to your TV tray. Look forward to your future comments...maybe Christmas Eve, you can "call-out" John Lasseter. Nice.

Ward Jenkins said...

Thanks for backing me up, there, anonymous. I don't know who you are, but I appreciate it.

As for the anonymous who replied to my comment -- I still stand by what I said. The earlier commenter has every right to express his opinion about Blair's work, but like I said earlier, the opinion is empty if there's nothing to back it up. Just a drive-by anonymous comment that lacks any kind of merit.

And resorting to name-calling just because you didn't like a comment is just as empty and worthless.

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