Monday, December 21, 2009

Mary Blair (FLAIR it up woman!)


I was in Books of Wonder the other day (18th st in Manhattan) when I came across a book about the illustrator Mary  Blair and I instantly fell in love! The book is entitled "The Fabulous Flair of Mary Blair". Actually I have been in love with her work since I was a kid without even knowing it was hers. Dare I say it, I think she has been the most influential artist in my life without me even knowing it, oh my! When I was younger my grandfather made sure we had all of the disney movies on vhs and I was always drawn to the early ones like Peter Pan, Cinderella and one of my all time favorites the 3 Caballeros. Mary  did  the inpirational paintings for all of these films and most Disney films in the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Her most famous works are Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Peter Pan. Yes, she was the one to create all of those fantastical landscapes that we all associate with these stories! She also did other work that was not for disney (I have posted some below). I think her sense of color is amazing and so bold and I love how she mixes cartoon and fine art sensibility together. The sense of grandeur in her castles in Cinderella and the way she uses proportion is the stuff of wonderful dreams!
Below I have posted pictures of her paintings as well as a scene
from the 3 Caballeros, and 2 shorts that she did artwork for that are from very early disney, all AMAZING!!!
Mary Blair, I confess my undying love for you! and you go girl--takin' on all those men at Disney back in the day...


 
Chocolate Milk Ad



From "Little Verses" (a golden book)



Peter Pan



Alice in Wonderland



Cinderella

The Little House (1952)



Once Upon a Wintertime (1948)



The 3 Caballeros (1944) scene



1 comments:

Mia said...

So beautiful! And for me too the nostalgia...I guess that's why for this generation of artists these styles are so relevant.