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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

"Little Lulu" - Information Needed

I received the following today and thought someone out there might have some ideas as to the film or other information...

Hello,

I was looking for some info on this piece of animation art. I believe it's from a title sequence. Any ideas??

Thanks,

Elliott

"Cinderella" (1950;1973) [Series] - Cinderella 'Slipper' Sunday

Part of a series of postings of "Cinderella" items in the Cowan Collection.

A very nice 1973 Sunday pen and ink of Cinderella where she tries on the shoe and lives "happily ever after."

I've often talked about collecting pivotal moments in film and comic art. This is a good example of one of the significant moments in the Cindy story...

Cinderella "Slipper" Sequence



----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Cinderella” strip (1973). A large pen and ink from the Sunday paper. The last in the series, where she tries on the shoe and lives happily ever after. Includes Cinderella, the Duke and the Prince. Notes: “6-24”; “copyright 1973” [Image: 25-3/8"W x 17-5/8"H; Frame: 31-13/16"W x 24"H] Acquired 1990. SeqID-0032 Updated: 5/18/2008

5/18/2008: This looks like the 1973 version of Cinderella. It ran between April 1 and June 24 1973. Script by Frank Reilly and art by Mike Arens. /Joakim Gunnarsson. http://sekvenskonst.blogspot.com

Thursday, June 25, 2009

"Cinderella" (1950) [Series] - Contact Sheet

OK. I'm going to post up the items in the Cowan Collection from Cinderella.

Here's a contact sheet of items that will be posted.... (click to enlarge)



Friday, June 19, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Contact Sheet

Below are a number of posts of items from the 1937 classic "Snow White."

Here are a few contact sheets showing the items that have been posted in this series...



"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Cel of Queen and the Heart Box

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....

This is the last item in the "Snow White" series. I hope you have enjoyed looking at them! -- Bob


Probably one of the more horrific scenes is when the Queen thrusts a box toward the Huntsman and tells him to cut out Snow White's heart, place it in this ornate box and return it to her as proof of Snow White's death. Perhaps this form of "proof" was commonplace, but I found it a little shocking when I first saw the film (being a somewhat sheltered boy growing up in Iowa).

I remember seeing a similar image about twenty years ago and it took another fifteen years to find one for sale. After all, how could anyone say "No" to that face! Great character moment!

Originally in a Courvosier frame, the piece was repaired by S/R Labs. We removed the plain S/R Labs matte and re-matted the piece in gold leaf with red velvet.


Cel of Queen and Heart Box (click to enlarge)



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In 2002, I received a letter from my father saying that he saw an article on animation in "Popular Science" on animation and thought I might be interested. As I pulled out the enclosed article, a small image caught my attention. There was my Queen on the wall! I thought you might like to see it as well...

Popular Science Article



----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) A gouache on celluloid depicting the Wicked Queen holding the box meant to hold Snow White's heart, applied to an airbrushed background. The matte is stamped on the lower right hand corner "Original WDP" The artwork includes a Courvoisier Galleries label on the back. Condition: excellent." [Item: 14.25"W x 14.5"H; Image: 8 3/16"W x 7-7/8"H] Acquired 1999. SeqID-0426 Updated: 8/1/2005

SeqID 0426 Sleeping Beauty Queen. Reference: Hirshberg, Charles & Sinha, Gunjan. "Citizen Science," Popular Science, May 2002, Page 83

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Pastel Concept of Queen

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....


An absolutely wonderful pastel concept of the Queen descending the stairs.

You can sense the urgency as her gaze is down the stairs and her robe flutters with her decent. It's a dark piece (which goes with the story line), but the colors are strong. Very dynamic!


Pastel of Queen Decending Stairs (click to enlarge)


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937). Pastel concept of the Wicked Queen descending the stairs. Double matted in raw silk with a gold leaf frame and matching filet. [9”W x 10”H] Acquired 2004. SeqID-1451 8/1/2005

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Queen and Mirror Pencil

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....

The Queen (as with all the Villains) is very collectible. This pencil is unique in that the Queen is facing away from the viewer and her face can be seen reflecting in the mirror. I don't think I've seen many images where a few from behind strengthens the characterization.

The detail in his pencil is amazing. Great attention to detail. As with the image of the Witch (next posting), we used a cut-out to focus attention on the character and draw the viewer into the image. We thought the use of a curved cut-out picked up the line of the held-out cape.


Queen and Mirror Pencil (click to enlarge)


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) This is an excellent pencil sketch of the Queen in front of the mirror, with her reflection apparent. [Image: 7 7/16"W x 8.5"H. Frame: 15-3/8"W x 16-7/8"H] Acquired 1989. SeqID-0129 8/3/2005

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Witch Pencil

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....


This was one of the early pencils we picked up. It's a great image of the Witch holding out the apple for Snow White.

The Witch was placed in the right third of the sheet and the power of her character seemed to get lost in the field. Rather than cut the image out and re-frame it, we decided to keep the page whole and do a cut-out to focus on the Witch. We also put in a small section of red around the cut-out to highlight the red of the apple. The black is felt and the frame itself is high-gloss.

Frankly, I think a good frame can highlight the art. In this case, most viewers stop to look at the image and actually move in closer to look at the detail.


Witch Pencil (click to enlarge)


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) Pencil sketch of the Queen (as the witch) as she holds out an apple. [Image: 5-5/16"W x 5-7/8"H. Frame: 20-11/16"W x 17-3/16"H] Acquired 1989. SeqID-0128 8/6/2005

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Snow White Pencil

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....


Our daughter enjoyed singing as she grew up and we tended to pick up items that showed characters singing.

This is one of several nice pieces that show a character singing -- where the process of singing further reinforces the character.

Snow White Pencil


----- DATABASE NOTES ------

From “Snow White” (1937) Pencil drawing with some red of Snow White singing. Note: "Prod 2001, Seq. 134, Scene 14"' "D" Shows some brown tape over registration holes. Acquired 1992. SeqID-0130 8/5/2005

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Promotional Model Sheet Photo

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....


A few years ago, I picked up another scrapbook that had cels and promotional photographs in it. Here is one photo that was sent out to help publicize the movie and the animation process. This photograph was used in one of the publications posted earlier.

All of the pencil notations were actually part of the photograph -- not added later.


Comparative Size Promotional Photograph



----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937). Promotional photo of the comparative sizes of: Doc, Snow White, Grumpy & Dopey. Dated: 9/28/36. Scrapbook photo. [10"W x 8"H] Acquired 2003. SeqID-1415

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Courvoisier Items

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....

OK. We have a number of Courvoisier items from Snow White and instead of putting them up one-by-one, I'll just post the rest here.

As I recall, Guthrie Courvoisier was an art dealer in San Francisco who was looking for a different art form to promote. He thought animation art represented a new class of artwork and became interested in it. While there was some market in the sale and trade of cels, Courvoisier thought the cels needed to be placed on some "context" and designed backgrounds and frames to create an overall piece of artwork. So, having some pieces from Courvoisier's first effort add to the historical significance.


"Snow White" Courvoisiers

Click to Enlarge
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Snow White

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Happy


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Grumpy

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Sleepy

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Bashful


----- DATABASE NOTES ------

From “Snow White” (1937) Cel of Snow White with bird on hand on Courvoisier production background. Fine condition Courvoisier cel. [Image: 5-3/4"W x 5-3/4"H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0331 8/1/2005

From “Snow White” (1937) Courvoisier cel of Happy in gold frame looking to left with right hand up a little. Seller: “Cels of Happy are very rare.” [Image: 5-3/4"W x 7-3/4"H. Frame: 13.25"W x 15.5"H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0333 8/5/2005

From “Snow White” (1937). Courvoisier cel of Grumpy at organ on painted background. Seller: Grumpy is one of the more collectible Dwarfs. [Image: 7"W x 8"H. Frame: 15.5"W x 17-3/4"H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0335 8/5/2005

From “Snow White” (1937) Courvoisier cel of Sleepy in gold frame with eyes half closed and holding fish clarinet and cymbal. [Image: 6-1/8"W x 5-1/8"H. Frame: 12"W x 11.5"H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0334 8/5/2005

From “Snow White” (1937). Courvoisier cel of Bashful playing accordion on painted background. [Image: 7-13/16"W x 5-11/16"H. Frame: 18"W x 16"H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0336 8/5/2005

Thursday, June 18, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Grumpy Courvoisier

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....

A great Courvoisier of Grumpy. Good characterization.

Grumpy


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) Courvoisier cel of Grumpy in gold frame looking left and yelling. [Image: 3-3/8"W x 5-1/8"H. Frame: 8-3/4"W x 11"H] Acquired 2000. SeqID-0332

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Dwarf Pencil

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....


A great pencil of the Dwarfs. This may not be a production model sheet, but a nice piece none the less.

Pencil of Dwarfs


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) Excellent pencil model sheet of all Dwarfs (Doc; Happy; Sneezy; Sleepy; Bashful; Grumpy; Dopey). Very large image. [15.5”W x 12.5”H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0359

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Courvoisier of Vultures

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....

This is one of the more interesting (in my opinion) Courvoisier framings. I especially liked the wood grain background, the circle surrounding the Vultures and the embossed "The Vultures" element. Somebody decided to get pretty creative with this piece!

It's a good image of the Vultures -- good character portrayal. In fact, I found a similar image of the Vultures on the Disney web site (in the image used on the Disney site, one of the Vultures has a slightly more open mouth).

The Vultures - Courvoisier



The Vultures - Disney Web Site


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) Cel of the two Vultures from Snow White sitting on a tree limb. Courvoisier mounting. [Image: 5-5/16"W x 5.5"H; Frame: 12.5"W x 14.5"H] Acquired 1995. SeqID-0226 8/3/2005

Monday, June 15, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Courvoisier and Pencil of Sneezy

More of the "Snow White" material in the Cowan Collection....


This was one of the early Courvoisier items we picked up in 1998. I wasn't that crazy about the pose, but it looked like a nice representation of the Courvoisier items (and it seemed to fit in with some of the other Courvoisier items we had. About the same time, we acquired the Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook but the pages were so fragile, I decided to leave it in storage until I had the time to do a complete scanning of the material.

After I finished scanning the material and creating individual images from the larger pages, I was struck by how similar one of the pencil drawings was to a Courvoisier we had on the wall. When I compared the two, they appeared to be almost identical! The coincidence is pretty dramatic. I'd love to frame the pencil and hang it near the Courvoisier, but that would mean cutting up the Scrapbook and I'm not ready to destroy a single page of an amazing historical document.

Sneezy In Two Media




----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Snow White” (1937) Courvoisier cel and background of Sneezy asleep, laying back in star field. [Image: 6.5"W x 5.5"H. Frame: 12-3/4"W x 11-3/4"H] Acquired 1998. SeqID-0438 8/7/2005

Image of SeqID-0438 from SeqID-0243. From “Ingeborg Willy’s Scrapbook” (1936). SeqID 0243 Ingeborg Willy was an inker for Disney from 11/23/36 to 11/26/41 (Dave Smith @ Disney).

Saturday, June 13, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Mirror Pencil

A series posting the images in the Cowan Collection from "Snow White."


Of all the items in the Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook, this is one that really stopped me in my tracks... S small sketch of the face in the Magic Mirror.

The image small (approximately 1" x 2"), but very powerful and captivating.

I scanned it at 1200 dpi so that I could scale it up to a much larger size. Since a Magic Mirror image is fairly rare, I decided to upload a larger than normal file so you could enjoy the piece!

Magic Mirror (PLEASE click to enlarge)

Friday, June 12, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Snow White Pencil

This is a great pencil of Snow White from the Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook. I used this image for the cover of the book I developed that included all the images from the Scrapbook -- which I was selling at cost. As some may recall, I pulled the book after some concern about publication rights. By the way, I'm STILL waiting for the folks at Disney to issue an "OK" so I can put the book back in circulation.

There are a number of fantastic images in the Scrapbook and this is one of 3 or 4 that I think are exceptional. By the way, the image had separated from the scrapbook page and the darker sections in the corner are where the glue was applied and scanning process makes the sections appear much darker.

Snow White Pencil (click to enlarge)


----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Ingeborg Willy’s Scrapbook” (1936-1937). A scrapbook of photos, pencil drawings and other items put together by Ingeborg Willy, who was an inker for Disney from 11/23/36 to 11/26/41 and who died in 1999. Acquired 1998. SeqID-0243 Updated: 7/28/2005

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"Snow White" (1937) [Series] - Snow White Color Model Sheet

Continuing with the postings of items in the collection from "Snow White"....

I think this is a great color model of Snow White. Excellent pose. Good notations, with lots of different colors. From an educational standpoint, a great example to use when describing the animation process to newcomers...

Snow White Color Model Sheet (click to enlarge)



----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Ingeborg Willy’s Scrapbook” (1936-1937). A scrapbook of photos, pencil drawings and other items put together by Ingeborg Willy, who was an inker for Disney from 11/23/36 to 11/26/41 and who died in 1999. Acquired 1998. SeqID-0243 Updated: 7/28/2005