In 1960, several hundred concept paintings and drawings personally selected by Walt Disney were sent to Japan to promote the release of Sleeping Beauty.
The art was shortly there after donated to Tokyo Museum of Modern Art. Not seeing the collection as valuable they sent it to Chiba University of Science and Engineering. Chiba University, being a science school, put the art in cardboard boxes and stored it in a damp janitors closet and there it stayed for 50 years until being re-discovered in 2002. The art, some of which in very poor condition was restored and the collection with 350 more bits of additional art from Disney toured Japan before finally being returned the Disney archives.
This is the catalog from that exhibit-
It's a rare book.
Usually I dont like to post rare books to Parka's site since they dont do much to support his efforts with book retailers - but this one I had to make an exception for and Im sure Parka will agree that its a magnificent collection worth mentioning to the members of the forum. (Especially Kirikou- you need this book for your shelf!)
A few things in it Ive seen in the Disney Design book- but much of it Ive never seen ever before. The catalog seems to be broken into sections according to artist instead of film- so get ready to see real mouth fulls of Tyrus Wong, Eyving Earle, Mary Blair along with all the rest of the Disney greats. Id say if I could only have 1 Disney book, this is definitely the one Id want.
The Art of Disney
245 pgs (SC)
