And Then There Were None: Ollie Johnston, 1912 - 2008

Ollie Johnston, the last of Walt Disney's legendary animators dubbed "The Nine Old Men", died today at the age of ninety-six. His work has inspired legions of animators, cartoonists and fans alike.

Condolences to his friends and family.

UPDATE: If you'd like to read Charles Solomon's New York Times obituary for Mr. Johnston, click here.

Coming Soon To San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum

The Art and Flair of Mary Blair
October 27, 2007 - March 18, 2008

Mention the name Mary Blair, and few will recognize it. But say she designed Alice In Wonderland, the It's A Small World ride at Disneyland, and painted many of the most popular Little Golden Books, and people will 'Oh yeah!' in recognition. Few others working in animation in the '40s and '50s were as innovative, interesting, and accessible as Mary Blair. Through her unique color styling and graphically strong shape language, her work pushed animation design in a different direction towards a more evocative, suggested feeling of the subject matter.

Blair's work is decidedly not realistic, but it evokes powerful emotions in the audience. Her sense of color defies logical explanation, yet somehow feels emotionally perfect. No wonder Walt Disney loved her work. Like animation itself, her paintings were a caricature of real life; more intensely evocative of the thing than the thing itself.

The Cartoon Art Museum is proud to present The Art and Flair of Mary Blair, a retrospective exhibition of the work of famed animation designer Mary Blair (1911-1978). 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 children's 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. She was posthumously recognized as a Disney Legend in 1991 and was honored with a Winsor McCay animation award in 1996.

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition includes an array of Blair's groundbreaking concept art for classic Disney feature films including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, Disney shorts such as The Little House, Johnny Appleseed, and Susie, The Little Blue Coupe, and Disney theme parks and attractions, including It's A Small World.
The Art and Flair of Mary Blair showcases the full scope of Blair's career as an artist and illustrator, including early watercolor paintings, commercial illustrations for such clients as Hanes, Pall Mall, and Baker's Chocolate, a selection of Blair's fine art, unpublished family photographs, and children's book illustrations, including pages from the classic Little Golden Book I Can Fly.

Information regarding the opening reception and additional programming will be announced as details are confirmed.

*************************************************************************************

Oddly, even though this exhibit opens in less than four weeks, there's no sign of it on the museum's web site at all. I'll update my blog as I get more info.

This Blair image was from Peko-Chan's Flickr collection, most of which seem to have been culled from the internet anyway.

Peter Ellenshaw, 1913-2007

PETER ELLENSHAW, one of the premier matte artists in special effects filmmaking, died Monday in Santa Barbera at the age of 93. His artistic career - including production design and concept illustration - spanned more than seven decades, working with such acclaimed filmmakers as Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick, Michael Powell and W. Percy Day.

Born on a farm in Essex, England in 1913, Mr. Ellenshaw was fortunate enough in his early twenties to get a job as an apprentice to W. Percy Day, O.B.E., the British film industry’s foremost special effects artist and painter for matte shots (realistic paintings done on glass of extended sets or fantasy locations which are combined with scenes of actors in real sets). Day, the Royal Academy trained artist, took the young Mr. Ellenshaw under his wing, working on such classics as Things to Come, The Thief of Baghdad and Black Narcissus.

After serving in the Second World War as a pilot for the Royal Air Force, Mr. Ellenshaw returned to the film industry as a matte artist for MGM's Quo Vadis. In the late 1940s Walt Disney approached him to work on the studio's first live action feature, Treasure Island. Thus began a professional collaboration and friendship which lasted over 30 years and 34 films.

In 1953, Mr. Ellenshaw and his family moved to California and he found himself expanding upon his matte painting work to contribute to the dramatic and spectacular special effects on Disney's epic film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The Walt Disney Studio was also in the pre-planning stages for Disneyland. Mr. Ellenshaw also contributed his artistic touch to many of the attractions at the new theme park, including the first Circlevision theater show, TWA's Rocket Ship to the Moon and X-1 Satellite View of America.

In 1960 Mr. Ellenshaw did a matte painting of Rome for Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, while continuing to work full time for Disney studios. He contributed to the popular television show 'Disneyland' with work on Davy Crockett and Zorro, as well as classic Disney features including Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Mary Poppins and The Love Bug. For Mary Poppins, Mr. Ellenshaw won an Oscar® for Best Special Visual Effects on the landmark film. He has also been nominated for an Academy Award® an additional three times; for his production design work on Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Island at the Top of the World as well as for his effects work on The Black Hole. (Just this year Mr. Ellenshaw attended the "re-premiere" of Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke at Hollywood's El Capitan theatre, celebrating the release of the special DVD edition of the film.)

In addition to his film career, Mr. Ellenshaw also enjoyed landscape and seascape painting. In the 50s, he began painting the picturesque coves and crashing waves along the California coast. He soon developed a reputation as a fine art painter whose oils are enjoyed and collected today.

In 1993, Peter Ellenshaw was officially designated a 'Disney Legend' at the Walt Disney Studios in a ceremony presided over by CEO Michael Eisner and Roy E. Disney.


Much of this biography is originally from ellenshaw.com, where you can view artwork by Mr. Ellenshaw and his son, Harrison Ellenshaw.