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Cartoon Cornucopia: The J. Arthur Wood, Jr. Collection of Cartoon Art
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A great fan of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Art Wood collected cels, storyboards, and character drawings from some of the most famous creators of animated cartoons. The collection is full of such surprising "firsts," as a paper drawing for Gertie, the first popular animated feature, a cel and presentation drawing from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first popular full-length feature. While works relating to animated cartoon art make up a small portion of the collection, they are among the most important in the animation field.

Pioneering animator Winsor McCay (1869-1934) created this line drawing for the scene in which Gertie encounters a woolly mammoth in the first commercially successful animated film, Gertie the Dinosaur. In 1903 the American Museum of Natural History in New York mounted the first exhibition of dinosaur bones which captured McCay's imagination. He created the film before the invention of animation cels, so he and his assistants had to draw thousands of images on paper and film them individually. He first presented his animated dinosaur as part of a Vaudeville act in which he stood on a stage and introduced Gertie, who then "walked out" on a movie screen. He asked her to perform tricks and she complied. Audiences, unaccustomed to film, often thought Gertie was real. McCay, already famous as a comic strip and editorial cartoon artist, had created two animated films prior to Gertie the Dinosaur - Little Nemo and The Story Of A Mosquito. Gertie has been listed on the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress since 1991. Image: see caption below
Winsor McCay,
[Gertie the Dinosaur]
,
1914.
Ink on tracing paper.
LC-DIG-ppmsc-02839

The Library no longer has permission to display this item.

Gustaf Tenggren.
[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Model Sketch for the Seven Dwarfs]
.
Pencil, ink, and watercolor on brown paper. ca.1937.
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03342        © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the popular feature-length movie created by Walt Disney Productions, originated in 1934 when Walt Disney (1901-1966) excited his creative staff with the romantic fairy tale. Minor characters in the Grimm Brothers version, the dwarfs took on new life in Disney's story. This presentation drawing, attributed to illustrator Gustaf Tenggren (1896-1970), depicts the major characteristics of each of the seven dwarfs. Tenggren gave Snow White the Old World look that Walt Disney sought for his breakthrough animated feature. Born in Sweden, the artist illustrated children's annuals until he emigrated to the United States in 1920 in search of new career opportunities. In 1936 he went to work for Walt Disney. His Scandinavian heritage influenced his work in the scenes he created for Snow White. The film is listed on the National Film Registry.

The Library no longer has permission to display this item.

Walt Disney Productions,
Snow White
, 1937.
Tempera on celluloid.
LC-DIG-ppmsc-02838
© Disney Enterprises, Inc.
While not the first feature-length animated film, Snow White was the first American feature-length animated film and the first Technicolor feature. Although produced at the extraordinary cost of $1.5 million during the depths of the Depression Snow White paid off as it earned $8 million in its first release, a phenomenal sum in 1937. At the time the average price for theater admission in the United States was twenty-five cents - and many children were admitted for a dime. More than 750 Disney artists worked on the film during the years of production, 1934-1937. This entrancing animation cel portrays Snow White, a figure which has captured the hearts of generations of Americans, reaching for a songbird.
Walt Disney introduced the popular character Jiminy Cricket in the animated film Pinocchio in 1940. The character was designed by master animator Ward Kimball to narrate and balance the story of the boy puppet gone astray by ill-intentioned characters. Production on Pinocchio began in 1937 and required one million drawings to bring it to life. The film featured generous use of the multiplane camera (a Disney innovation designed to impart the illusion of life), detailed backgrounds, and spectacular special effects. Disney autographed this drawing of Jiminy Cricket tipping his hat in 1940. The original recipient was American editorial cartoonist, Karl Kae Knecht, who cartooned for the Evansville [Indiana] Courier from 1906 to 1960.

The Library no longer has permission to display this item.

Walt Disney Productions,
Jiminy Cricket
, 1940.
Pencil with watercolor and ink.
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03346
© Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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  The Library of Congress >> Prints & Photographs Reading Room >> Swann Foundation
  August 29, 2003
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