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Exhibition of animated film artwork“The Moving Image,’’ an exhibition of artwork created solely for use in producing animated films, opens on June 16 at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, and continues through August 16. The display will be shown in the Design Gallery of the Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Design, Fifth Avenue at 91st Street in New York.One hundred examples span 64 years of animation history. Included are cels (painting on acetate), backgrounds, and the many types of drawings used in various stages of the production of a cartoon—concept drawings, mood studies, character development studies, storyboards, layout drawings and actual animation drawings that are traced onto acetate to produce the cels that are finally photographed and flashed on the screen.These diverse examples give the viewer some understanding of the complex evolutionary process required for a film’s creation, and this aspect of the exhibition is accompanied by a 24-step explanatory text, “How an Animated Film is Made,” illustrated by the noted cartoonist and one-time animator Virgil (VIP) Partch“The Moving Image” is the first comprehensive exhibition of animation art to travel across the United States. Virtually every major studio ever engaged in the production of animated films is represented: Warner Brothers,Walter Lanz, Fleischer, MGM, UPA, Columbia, Jay Ward, Chuck Jones Enterprises, Bakshi Productions, Richard Williams Studio, Nepenthe Productions. UB Iwerks Studio, Filmation, Hanna -Barbera, and of course, Walt Disney Productions, responsible for approximately half the pieces included in the exhibitionTliere are loans from several collections, of which the primary one is that of Jerome K Muller, of Costa Mesa, California, who spent 15 years searching for outstanding examples of animation art, choosing specific pieces based on their artistic and historic value A recognized authority on comic art and animation art, Mr Muller has taught the subject at theUniversity of California, Irvine, and has lectured often at national comic art conventions and at many museums throughout the United States.In “The Moving Image,’’ special emphasis is on landmark productions, such as “Snow White,” Disney’s first feature, and “Fantasia,” a highly innovative film that in retrospect seems to have been years ahead of its time. There are animation drawings from “Steamboat Willie’’ and “Plane Crazy,” 1928, which introduced Mickey Mouse to the world and ushered in the Golden Age of Animation Contemporary classics like Ralph Bakshi’s “Fritzthe Cat,” Richard William’s “Christmas Carol” and George Dunning's “Yellow Submarine” are also representedWhether it be Pinocchio, Grumpy, Cinderella, Bambi, Andy Panda, Pogo, Alice in Wonderland, the Pink Panther, Yogi Bear, or Betty Boop, everyone is likely to find a favorite animated character, caught at a particular moment, frozen for all time on a piece of paper or acetate. Serious students of the art of animation will be pleased to discover rare, almost obscure, cels or drawings from films long forgotten by the public, despite their historicsignificance For instance, a sequence of four paintings for “The Sinking of the Lusitania,” 1918, demonstrates not only Winsor McCay’s extraordinary artistic and technical ability but also one of the first uses of the “cel,” which at that time consisted of a watercolor painting on translucent nitrate.Many pieces from the period which experts refer to as “The Golden Age,” 1928 to 1942, probably will look ancient to younger viewers Images of Bugs Bunny from “Hare-um, Scare-um,” 1939, and Donald Duck from “Wise Little Hen,” 1934, are so different from their present appearance as to make them look like distant relatives An authoritative 32-page illustrated catalogue, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury, accompanies the exhibition and will be available from the Museum Shop A four-part series ol animated films will be presented in conjunction with the show—in the Museum’s Grey Room, on Tuesday evenings June 23, July 7, and 21, and August 11, beginning at 6:00 p.m. and lasting about an hour Tickets, $2.50 each, may be or dered by mail from the Programs Department, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, 2 East 91 Street. New York 10028
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Westport News
Westport, Connecticut, US
Fri, Jun 12, 1981
Page 42
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USA 31 May 2025
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