In memory of Diane Disney Miller Magic

Color
THE WORLD OF
MARY BL AIR

Flair
Essay by John Canemaker
Exhibition Curator

March 13september 7, 2014

The Walt Disney Family Museum
San Francisco, California
 FO R E WO R D
it brings me great pleasureto share with you Magic Color Flair: The World of
Mary Blair, the catalog for the retrospective exhibition at The Walt Disney Family
Museum. The exhibition explores the career of one of Walts most beloved
designers and art directors, and one of the most influential women in animation:
Mary Blair. The exhibition opens in MarchWomens History Monthto honor
Blair as one of the immensely talented female artists who, in the early days of
animation at the Walt Disney Studios, helped crack the celluloid ceiling and pave
the way for todays women animators, story artists, writers, and directors.
If a woman can do the work as well, she is worth as much as a man, Walt
Disney famously declared in a speech to his employees in February 1941. The
girl artists have the right to expect the same chances for advancement as men,
and I honestly believe they may eventually contribute something to this business
that men never would or could. Less than a year later, Walts premonition about
the incredible possibilities for women at Disney was realized in Mary Blair.
On the Good Neighbor policy tour with a group of artists traveling through
South America to illustrate its people and ways of life, Blair developed the unique
and incredibly arresting, captivatingly colorful style for which shes known today.
Once back stateside, her new aesthetic found expression in the animation depart-
ment at the Studios, where her lush color choices and charming, fresh art direc-
tion heavily influenced the look and feel of Disney films for almost thirty years.
And later in her life, after a robust career as a freelance illustrator, Blair rejoined
forces with Walt to create dazzling murals and interactive displays, demonstrat-
ing that women could not only do the work and do it well, but that they also could
chart new and imaginative territories in the world of art and design.
The Walt Disney Family Museum is fortunate to have many exceptional pieces
of Blairs artwork and personal artifacts due to the commitment of Diane Disney
Mary Blair, circa 1941
Miller, Walts daughter and The Walt Disney Family Museums co-founder, to
acquire these pieces for our permanent collection, and also due to the generosity of
our dear friends and Blairs nieces, Maggie Richardson and Jeanne Chamberlain,
who have loaned even more beautiful works for this exhibition. In addition to
sketchbooks kept during her South America trip and stunning concept art for
Disney films such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, the museum
is also happy to permanently host Blairs paint standcomplete with her trusty
brushes, favorite paints, and stylish eyeglassesas a shrine to our lady of flair.
But beyond Blairs immeasurable gifts to the animation world and her status
as one of the industrys first female icons, she herself was a treasure to Walt and
his family. John Canemaker, exhibition curator, noted expert on Blairs lifework, 7
and friend to the museum, has concluded that, Of all his artists, this female
artist was Walts favorite. Her work even hung in the Disney family home in Los
Angeles where Diane Disney Miller grew up. Sadly, Diane passed away before the
opening of this exhibition, but we know that she would have been delighted to
see the brilliant hues and sparkling inventiveness of Blairs work on the museum
walls, as well as the joy experienced by our guests.
It was Dianes vision to honor her fathers favorite artiststo preserve their
work and share their talents with the public. With this exhibition and those to
come, we loyally keep her legacy alive. This catalog is dedicated to her memory.
Kirsten Komoroske
Executive Director
The Walt Disney Family Museum
 Creating new world s

This is the most interesting job Ive ever had. [The] results are more
delightful than anything Ive tried before.1
Mary Blair regarding its a small world, 1964

When Mary Blair left the Disney Studio, the printing press supplanted the
cinema as the medium for the reproduction of her colorful art, American Artist
magazine reported.2 Actually, the print medium was but one of a variety of out-
lets for her adaptable talents from the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s.
For example, she created more than twenty semiabstract designs for hand-
kerchiefs and scarfs manufactured by Carol Stanley Studios, New York, which
sold in Lord & Taylor and other specialty-retail upscale department stores. Also
for Lord & Taylor and branches in 1964, she designed womens suits and dresses
for the stores Beverly Paige label. She designed sets for lavish Christmas and
Easter pageants produced by Leon Leonidoff at Radio City Music Hall, and for
30 an unproduced Broadway musical with a Duke Ellington score titled Cole Black
and the Seven Dwarfs. In June 1962, she constructed paper sculptures for Bonwit
Tellers chic store windows on Fifth Avenue. She also designed TV commercials
for Pepsodent toothpaste, Meadow Gold Ice Cream, and other products through
her husbands film production company. David Swift, a former Disney animator
and later the director of Disney live-action films, such as Polyanna (1960) and
The Parent Trap (1961), hired Mary Blair as Color Designer for the live-action
film adaptation of the Broadway hit musical How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying (1967).
In the print medium, in addition to greeting cards and magazines, Mary
Blairs most widely seen illustrations were advertisements for national brands,
including Nabisco, Johnson & Johnson, Beatrice Foods, Maxwell House coffee
(utilizing twenty-four-sheet billboard posters), Meadow Gold Ice Cream, Blue
Bell childrens clothes, and Bakers Instant Cocoa, among other products.
A dozen Pall Mall cigarette ads, in a striking poster-like design, ran in two
national campaigns. Each ad features the familiar red cigarette pack surrounded
by foodgrapes, grapefruit, apples, pears, a shrimp cocktail, even a lobster
(because Pall Mall is So friendly to your taste!). In a rare, if oblique, statement

Mary Blair stands before her

Tomorrowland mural design
Disneyland, circa 1967
 regarding a modern art influence on her work, Blair noted in a letter to Ross Care
that the thick black line she painted around the cigarette pack incidentally came
from inspiration that the SSC&B [ad agency] art director, Joe Franchina, received
upon seeing the Picasso exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. In the same
letter is a second Picasso reference: The question as to the changing design
trend at the time I went to work at Disney might be compared to the work of an
individual artist. They all evolve and change styles as time passes. Take Picasso
as an example.3
Among her most long-lasting and beloved print ventures are the whimsical
illustrations she created for the childrens book genre, namely Golden Books. For
more than fifty years her illustrated books have enchanted young readers, who
pass them on (originals and reprints) to subsequent generations.
Mary Blair had already illustrated two of her five Golden Books before she left
the Disney Studio, another indication (along with being allowed to work from
home) of how privileged and special she was in Walts eyes. She freelanced for
Golden Books, along with a group of other former animation associates (mostly
32 from Disney) who had moved to the East Coast, including John Parr Miller,
Martin and Alice Provensen, Aurelius Battaglia, and Gustaf Tenggren. For them,
Golden Books was not only a source of income but a vehicle for artistic expres-
sion.4 [Blairs] colleagues all painted and drew in highly individualistic styles
that nonetheless reflected some of the major tendencies in postwar graphic art
and design, writes historian Leonard S. Marcus in Golden Legacy. sleepy, and worm/centipede cousins enjoy high tea underneath a flower garden.
Deftly straddling the line between traditional representation and
modernist abstraction, each of these inventive artists strove for an
airy lightness and brightness of being-on-the-page that belonged to
the new streamlined age of glass-box skyscrapers, ribbon highways,
and casual middle-class suburban living. Festive colors applied in
bold, surprising combinations made simply opening one of their
books a challenging as well as playful adventure.5
Selected original illustrations in this exhibition include Mary Blairs Babys
House (1950), I Can Fly (1950), The Golden Book of Little Verses (1953), The
New Golden Song Book (1955), and The Up and Down Book (1964). In each, her
bountiful imagination and magical imagery are showcased in paintings that are
inventive in layout, color, and superb technical craftsmanship.
Her first book, Babys House (written by Gelolo McHugh) is suffused with a
fascination with children and the joys of parenthood. (The Blairs second child
was born the year of the books publication, which may have something to do
with the exuberance of her illustrations, visible on pages 136137.) The New York
Times lauded Babys House for portraying the young childs satisfaction in every-
day objects as Baby marches through his house, making a joyful inventory of
those things that are important in the first years of life.6
The illustrations for I Can Fly (which was written by Ruth Krauss and also
published in 1950) reflect Blairs animation experience: The little girl mim-
ics the action and poses of animals she encounters, as the images on pages
132135 show. The book was an even bigger success: The New York Herald
Tribune awarded it a Picture Book Honor at the 1951 Childrens Spring Book
Festival and it has remained in print for more than sixty years. Readers of all
ages were (and continue to be) delighted by the inquisitive little girl in the
story. In 1960, Jacqueline Kennedy wrote Blair a personal note from the White 33
House to say that I Can Fly is one of her three-year-old daughter Carolines and playfulness. It is an insular world, in which sadness and anger are emotional
favorite books.7 notes not played, except inadvertently. In Little Verses, for example, a lost doll
Blairs delicate whimsy and inventiveness found an expansive outlet in resembling a broken Tim Burton puppet lies in a cold field among black beetles,
Golden Books. In The Golden Book of Little Verses, for example, bees are busy and observed by a spooky white rabbit. More often, a dark background is inevitably set
off by joyful activity in the foreground; as in a two-page spread of kids blowing
The costumed insects are individuated with charming anthropomorphism and pastel-hued bubbles alongside playful kittens and a flock of small colorful birds
more than a dollop of humor (see page 140). Interesting, too, is the dry brush (see page 141). After seeing Mary Blairs colors and her mesmerizing Golden Book
painting technique Blair uses to add texture to the ground and flower petals and, pictures, many a child became interested in art; indeed, because of this early
of course, her balancing of intense and neutral colors. Art director Fred Cline, exposure, numerous children were inspired to pursue a career in art.
who knew Lee and Mary Blair in their later years, notes that her color juxtapo- rapidly, almost feverishly, turned out due to tight production exigencies or the The preliminary and final illustrations in this exhibition for The Up and
sition is very pleasing, but very unusual. The work has a graphic sense, but not a need to get story and color dreams out of her head and onto paper. Down Book, Blairs last Golden Book, allow another glimpse into her creative
hard feeling. The shapes are organic and she rubs tones to give some dimension. Absent, too, in the Golden Books were pressures to visualize narratives con- process (shown here and on pages 142147). Spidery, tentative pencil lines form
But she doesnt explain dimension in a logical way.8 taining high drama, low comedy, and a variety of emotions. Instead, her brief for the initial idea sketches, cautious as all inspirational sketches are when the light-
Her book deadlines were less intense than those of animated feature film the kids books was to gently evoke a childs wonder, sense of fun, and curiosity bulb in the artists mind begins to glow. In the finished paintings, however, all
productions. For films, she painted (in an animators frame of mind) many, many about the world. Blair invests her books with subtle messages touting cooper- signs of hesitancy have fled. Now, strong thick lines surround the child charac-
variations to suggest ideas for staging, character poses, camera angles, and set- ation and inventiveness; using your imagination; and being kind and gentle to ters made from simple geometric shapes and bold straight-from-the-tube colors.
tings. Some of her small paintings for Alice in Wonderland appear to have been playmates both human and animal. Her images glow with optimism, warmth, There is an in-your-face feeling of children (and the artist) letting go, playing,
Illustration Thumbnail sketch
The Up and Down Book (Golden Book), 1964 The Up and Down Book (Golden Book), 1964
opaque watercolor on illustration board | 1213 x 13
1
4 inches graphite and ink on onionskin paper | 11 x 14 inches
 having fun, making lots of noise! The loud, posteresque look is reminiscent of
certain Blair advertising assignments and especially the collages she made for its
a small world, which was completed the same year (1964) that The Up and Down
Book was published.
In 1963, Walt Disney came back into Blairs life like a benevolent uncle laden
with exciting gifts for a favorite but neglected niece. What Walt offered Mary for
the next three years was a series of creative challenges that would bring her art
to a new and literally large level.
Her first assignment was a project for the 1964 New York Worlds Fair: a musi-
cal boat ride with mechanical dolls representing the children of the worlda
symbol of international unity, goodwill, and global peace. Walt decided that its a
small world was an opportunity to stretch the creative muscles of his Imagineers,
the team who contributed to the success of Disneyland (which opened in 1955),
and he wanted Mary Blair and her designs to lead the way. She was motivated
by several factors: First, Walt personally chose her and offered his confidence
and trust; second, it was a project involving children; and, finally, her designs
34 would be showcased in a new dimensional form over which she would maintain
creative carte blanche. After meetings at the studio in Burbank, Blair returned
to her home studio in Great Neck, Long Island, ready to stretch her creative mus-
cles. Soon she was regularly sending to the West Coast a remarkable series of
collage designs that astonished her Imagineering colleagues.
This stuff started pouring in. Just wonderful! marveled her friend and
coworker Rolly Crump. It was the single biggest project that was ever given
to her and she was able to just go nuts! In dozens of brilliantly colored assem-
blages, she combined wallpaper cuttings, colored paper, cellophane, and acrylics
in interlocking geometric and organic shapes to bring a small world to life.
Blairs collages, comments Karal Ann Marling, were like Frank Lloyd Wright
married to Andy Warhol!9 For Walt, who never gave up on anything, It was the
climax, noted Ben Sharpsteen (Disney director and producer) of all the years
that [he] spent trying to bring Mary Blairs influence into his productions. For
Mary Blair, as Crump put it, It was like shed died and gone to heaven.10 Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York. Supervising the opening of wooden
I guess you could call it theatre-in-the-round, but its really much more,
Blair told a reporter, explaining the rides interactive combination of audio-
animatronic dolls, music, and audience participation.
The audience travels right through it in small boats, seeing its five
main areas unfold as the boat floats along a serpentine canal. The
audience moves, the performers move, and everyoneespecially
the childrenseem to have a grand time.11
Blairs its a small world attraction and (its title song) was an immediate hit.
When the attraction was duplicated in Disneyland in 1966 and Walt Disney World
in 1971, Blair made dozens more collages for exteriors and new scenes.
In the Walt Disney Family Museum exhibition are two prototype dolls for
its a small world, as well as two unusual items cocreated by Mary Blair and
Rolly Crump during the installation of the boat ride attraction at the Worlds
friendly welcome to ameliorate young patients going-to-the-doctor fears.
boxes containing the dolls and props and answering the staffs occasional
questions, the two artists soon grew bored. Suddenly Mary and I decided
wed start painting because we didnt have anything to do, Crump said.
Preliminary design for Europe
its a small world, 1964
opaque watercolor on paper | 10 x 13 inches
Using the wooden box lids as canvases, they shared layout and coloring duties
on five spontaneous dimensional paintings. We did it as a team, Crump
recalls. Then we glued some stuff on for hair. The hair came from a box
Crump sent containing extra glitter, jewels, and paint, in case anything got
hurt or broken. On the boxs cover he wrote Instant Small World. Just Add
Gin. She and I had a delightful time, Crumb recalls. It was absolutely
marvelous. I loved her dearly.12
Walt and Marys next big project was unveiled in November 1966 at the new
Jules Stein Eye Institute at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences. In the chil-
drens section of the outpatient clinic, Blair designed a large (220-square-foot)
mural of fired clay tiles in transparent colors. The design incorporates the door
to the examination room and depicts happy children from around the world, a
The Ceramic Mural, a 16mm educational film released in 1967, is a valuable
and rare document of Mary Blair discussing and showing her step-by-step
creative process. Appearing on cameraattractive, cool, and chic in clothes
Ceramic mural by Mary Blair at The Jules
Stein Eye Institute childrens ward, circa 1966
that she designedand speaking in a husky voiceover, she demonstrates how
she designed the eye clinic mural. In those precomputer days, the techniques
for transferring small sketches to a large mural were painstakingly ponderous
and slow, involving manually moving slide projectors and making vellum paper
drawings on-site to scale. Here a narrator in the film explains:
First, the small original sketch had to be enlarged to a full-size
drawing. These grid squares represent the individual tiles, which
would compose the finished mural. Now Mary projected a trans-
parency of the original art full-scale directly on the paper to be
drawn upon. The projector was moved back and forth to adjust the
size. First small drawings of the children were enlarged for accu-
rate placement on the lines of the grid.
Mary Blairs voiceover explains her techniques while performing them:
In planning a mural such as this, the first consideration is the 35
area in which it will be installed. The surrounding colors and light
sources will influence both color and design. Perhaps most import-
ant is the medium in which the work will be executed. In this case,
ceramic tile. The startling thing about working in ceramics is the
great brilliance and clarity of the finished color. I have often com-
pared it to the brilliance of a watercolor while still wet. But it is dif-
ficult to put on paper the idea that you know will eventually appear
in the brilliant ceramic glazes, and the artist must keep his concept
clearly in his mind as he designs. Enlarging a small sketch to such
great size is much more than a mechanical process. The dimen-
sions must be enlarged accurately, but there is a great difference
between a 20-inch design and a 20-foot one. The large expansion
becomes an original work in itself and the creative processes must
continue through to its completion.13
After years of innovation and delighting people all over the world, Walt Disney,
Mary Blairs champion, died on December 15, 1966. When he died Mary was

36
Photo documenting the construction process
of Mary Blairs mural for the Contemporary
Resort Hotel, circa 1971
destroyed, Gyo Fujikawa, the well-known childrens book illustrator observed.
So sad and unhappy. She wept.14
Mary remembered Walt as one of the most wonderful men in the world.
He was a family man, and he was willing to go along with all my commut-
ing expense . . . Walt had a great deal of courage in starting new projects and
in encouraging talent. He knew talent when he found it. Before he died, Walt
arranged to involve her in designing large-scale projects into the early 1970s.15
Two such projects include huge Mary Blair murals (54 feet in length and 15
feet high) that face each other on two buildings (Adventures Through Inner Space
and the Bell System CircleVision), built in the summer of 1967 for Tomorrowland
at Disneyland. The corridor of textured ceramic tile murals was titled The
Spirit of Creative Energies Among Children. Here Walt saw Blairs stylizations
capable of conveying reassuring messages about global communication and sci-
entific advancements in satellites and solar and wind energy.16
The last of Blairs large-scale ceramic murals is located inside the Contem-
porary Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World in Florida, which opened in 1971.
Eighteen-thousand hand-painted tiles appear on a 90-foot elevator shaft in a
mosaic depicting American Indian children, flowers, and animals in settings
and colors abstracted from the Grand Canyon. Blair found inspiration in South-
western prehistoric rock pictographs, Pueblo murals and sand paintings, and
her trips to Mexico three decades before. The Mary Blair child design, adapted
from The Three Caballeros La Posadas, is ubiquitous in the work.
Blairs special charm is on full display on the huge mural, as well as a playful
mystery. Many visitors to the site wonder why a striped goat located near the top
has five legs. The artist never explained herself, but in her research she may have
discovered the Cheyenne Spirit Bead tradition. To Cheyenne tribeswomen,
spending hundreds of hours creating geometric patterned artworks made of
beads and quills was a spiritual act, a prayer to the Great Spirit. Intentionally
they would weave or sew a wrong-colored bead into a perfect pattern as an act of
humility, recognizing the inherent imperfection of humans. Presuming that a
human could create something perfect would be an affront to the true perfection
of the gods.17 Maggie Richardson, Blairs niece, recalls that her aunt Mary was
always very spiritual . . . she would talk about [how] God is inside of you.18
The Contemporary Resort Hotel mural is a monumental work of art that takes
ones breath away. It even did so to the artist: Of course I had seen the finished
tiles laid out on a large table in sections as Interpace [tile division of Franciscan
Ceramics] finished firing the final work, Blair recalled. When I eventually went
to the opening of Disney World in Florida and walked into that giant concourse,
my reaction was Ohwow!19
With Blairs patron Walt Disney gone, no new commissions were forthcom-
ing from the Disney company. In her last seven years, she made small personal
artworks she called semi-dimensional paintings, which are part painting and
part constructions. When there are enough of them I will have an exhibition
possibly in San Francisco. However, illness and personal problems took a toll,
and Mary died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 26, 1978, at age sixty-six.
Funny thing about her, observed animator Preston Blair, Marys brother-in-
law, some years after her death, she started [out] drawing somewhat of the same
thing as Leebig watercolor splashes. One thing she told me: I dont think I
could draw another watercolor if I wanted to. Shed become accustomed to the
design, and she was so successful at it. It [fine art watercolors] just wasnt her cup 37
of tea anymore. She was very successful at being liked as an artist.20
To speculate on the road not takenwhat Mary Blair might have accomplished
had she concentrated on fine art watercolors or ceramics or purely abstract artis
futile and unnecessary. Mary Blair chose to focus her multitudinous artistic gifts in
the commercial sphere. It was her original goal at Chouinard: to become an illustra-
tor. Mary, who always knew what she wanted, as her sister Margaret often claimed,
and was also very determined in a nice way, always got what she sought. Her artistic
gifts, however, were so large, her versatility so encompassing, and her curiosity and
bravery so bold, she went way beyond mere illustration to a major, diverse career in
the areas of film, costumes, set design, fine art, animation concepts, advertisements
and books, theme park attractions, ceramics, sculpture, and collage.
To create ones own world takes courage, said Georgia OKeeffe. Mary
Blairs fearless artistic sensibilities and magical paintbrush created an intense
reality all her own. No matter the subject matter or medium, the feeling of joy
that she took in her limitless creativity is palpable, and it continues to communi-
cate and fascinate viewers of all ages all over the world.
John Canemaker
Learning
the Rules
 I
n this section of the exhibition are examples of work that Mary
Blair (then known as Mary Robinson) made as a scholarship
student at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Starting
in the fall of 1931, she began working at the school with the well-
known American illustrator Pruett Carter, with whom she contin-
ued to study privately after graduation. Carters instruction in the
art of composition and his rules for staging pictures and visualiz-
ing expressive emotions profoundly influenced the young woman.
He inspired her and encouraged her latent talent for dramatizing
a scene, which came to fruition when she began working as a con-
cept artist at the Walt Disney Studio.
In addition, there are several paintings exhibited that Mary
Robinson Blair made as a member of the California Water Color
Society, a regionalist art movement defined by representational
watercolors documenting everyday life on the Pacific Coast. The
president of the Society, starting in 1935, was Marys husband, Lee
Blair, a fellow Chouinard scholarship student, whom she wed in
41
1934. In both solo and group shows, the Blairs exhibited their work
in the mid- to late 1930s.
However, the need to augment their income led both artists to
work at L.A. animation studios, including the Walt Disney Studio.
Examples of Mary Blairs early Disney watercolor concept artworks
include Dumbo (1941) and Baby Ballet, a never-produced segment
for a 1941 addition to 1940s Fantasia.

Stormy Beach, circa 1930s

watercolor on paper | 21
1
2 x 264 inches
3
44 45

Elegy in a Country Churchyard, circa 1930s Untitled, circa 1930s

watercolor on paper | 1423 x 15
1
4 inches watercolor on paper | 14
1
2 x 152 inches
1
46
Sick Call, circa 1930s
charcoal on paper | 1134 x 1434 inches
47
The Lady in Red, circa 1930s Untitled (minister and lady in white), circa 1930s
watercolor and ink on paper | 32
1
2 x 262 inches
1
watercolor on paper | 3223 x 2413 inches
Breaking
the Rules
 I
n August 1941, Lee and Mary Blair became part of a group
of Disney Studio artists chosen by Walt Disney to travel with
him to South America. It was during this time that Mary Blair
developed her vibrant and colorful painting style, translating her
feelings about the 1941 tour of South America into vital, brilliantly
hued impressions with a heightened stylization.
The observational skills, enormous empathy, and sense of
wonder that found new expression on this trip are on full display
in the two framed portraits of Peruvian children at left, which she
painted during her visit to South America. They were among the
few Disney artworks ever displayed in the Los Angeles home of
Walt and Lillian Disney, an indication of how special Mary and her
art were to Walt and his family.
Walts discovery of Mary Blairs great and multitudinous
artistic gifts during the 1941 South America tour led him to assign
her numerous projects inside and outside the studio during the
war and postwar years. On the following pages is imagery for
60 61
diverse projects, such as the Latin American features Saludos
Amigos (1943) and The Three Caballeros (1945); the omnibus
features Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948); the com-
bination live-action and animation features Song of the South (1946)
and So Dear to My Heart (1948); and the feature-length animations
Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953).
Blair traveled often during this period to Mexico, Cuba, Ireland,
and areas of the United States to gather pictorial material, creat-
ing dynamic pieces that still capture the imagination today.

Peruvian girl, circa 1941 Peruvian boy, circa 1941

watercolor on paper | 10
1
4 x 73 inches
2
watercolor on paper | 10
1
4 x 73 inches
2
84 85

Visual development Visual development

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, 1949 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, 1949
opaque watercolor on paperboard | 7 x 8 inches opaque watercolor on paper | 8 x 9
1
2 inches
94 95

Visual development Visual development

Cinderella, 1950 Cinderella, 1950
opaque watercolor on paperboard | 714 x 8 inches opaque watercolor on paperboard | 6
1
2 x 82 inches
1
98

Visual development Visual development

Cinderella, 1950 Cinderella, 1950
opaque watercolor on paperboard | 10 x 12 inches opaque watercolor on paperboard | 12
1
2 x 152 inches
1
118 119

Visual development Visual development

Peter Pan, 1953 Peter Pan, 1953
opaque watercolor on paperboard | 7
1
4 x 78 inches
7
opaque watercolor on paperboard | 723 x 834 inches
120 121

Visual development
Peter Pan, 1953
opaque watercolor on paperboard | 813 x 1818 inches
166

Preliminary design for South Seas Preliminary design for Europe Preliminary design collage
its a small world, 1964 its a small world, 1964 its a small world, 1964
opaque watercolor on paper | 11 x 14 inches opaque watercolor on paper | 10 x 13 inches postcard | 4 x 6 inches

Published by The Walt Disney Family
Foundation Press, LLC.
104 Montgomery Street in the Presidio
San Francisco, CA 94129
No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, by any information storage and
retrieval system, or by any other means, without
written permission from the publisher.
A production
President, CEO Terry Newell
VP, Sales Amy Kaneko
VP, Publisher Roger Shaw
Creative Director Kelly Booth
Senior Editor Lucie Parker
Art Director Lorraine Rath
176 Designer Debbie Berne
Image Coordinator Conor Buckley
Production Director Chris Hemesath
Associate Production Director Michelle Duggan
Weldon Owen is a division of BONNIER
www.weldonowen.com
All rights reserved, including the right of
reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Copyright 2014 The Walt Disney Family
Foundation Press, LLC.
The Walt Disney Family Foundation Press is
not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company
or Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013957560
ISBN: 978-1-61628-793-1
ISBN: 1-61628-793-4
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Printed in China by Toppan Leefung.
A rtwor k L e n der s
Craig and Gisele Barto (photo courtesy of
californiawatercolor.com): 50 Pam Burns-Clair
Family: 103105 Jeanne Chamberlain (The
Estate of Mary Blair): 161 (top left, middle, and
bottom right) Jeanne Chamberlain and Maggie
Richardson (The Estate of Mary Blair): 8, 16 (all
but bottom center and bottom right), 17 (top
right and bottom right) 20, 3536, 46, 53, 7375,
150159, 170171, 175 Collection of Brian Bliss
(photo courtesy of californiawatercolor.com): 51
California Institute of the Arts Institute Archive:
11 (top) John Canemaker: 55 Carroll Family
Collection (photo courtesy of californiawatercolor.
com): 14, 49 Fred Cline: 12, 4243 Alice Davis:
172173 Mike and Jeanne Glad: 17 (top right)
Mike and Tammy Gabriel: 72 The Goldberg
Collection: 4445 The Don Hahn Collection:
25, 8081 Rudy and Debbie Lord: 40 Ron
Lytle: 48 Gift of Ron and Diane Miller: 26, 28,
54, 62 (right), 85, 92, 9495, 97, 100 (right),
111113, 115117, 122 (left), 124125, 127129, 166
(left) Joanna Miller: 100 (left) Gift of Walter
E. D. Miller: 87 Collection of Stuart Ng: 47
(right) Museum of American Illustration at
the Society of Illustrators: 11 (bottom) Random
House LLC: 2, 33 (left and center), 132, 134145,
148149 Maggie Richardson (The Estate of Mary
Blair): 161 (bottom left and top right) James Tim
Walker: 52 Walt Disney Family Foundation: 4, 6,
16 (bottom center), 19, 21, 22, 27, 30, 33 (right),
34, 60, 62 (left), 6371, 7678, 8284, 86, 8891,
93, 96, 9899, 101102, 106110, 114, 118121, Moneypenny-Johnston, marketing and commu-
122 (right), 123 (right), 146147, 160 (top), 162
163, 165, 166 (right), 167169 The Walt Disney
Company: 16 (bottom right), 17 (left top and
bottom), 18 Mark and Lily Weissman: 47 (left)
A rtwor k C o p yri g ht H older s
All images are The Estate of Mary Blair except
where noted below.
Disney: 4, 15, 16 (center top and bottom, right
bottom), 17 (top left and bottom left), 1822,
2428, 3031, 34, 36, 5457, 6072, 74129, of the Walt Disney Family Foundation. This
155 (bottom row and top row center left), 160,
165171 Random House LLC: 2 (The New Golden
Songbook, copyright 1955, copyright renewed
1983 by Random House); 33 (The Up and Down
Book, copyright 1964, copyright renewed 1992
by Random House); 132135 (I Can Fly by Ruth
Krauss, copyright 1951, copyright renewed 1979
by Random House); 136137 (Babys House by
Gelolo McHugh, copyright 1950, copyright
renewed 1978 by Random House); 138141 (The
Golden Book of Little Verses by Miriam Clark
Potter, copyright 1953, copyright renewed 1981
by Random House); 142147 (The Up and Down
Book, copyright 1964, copyright renewed 1992
by Random House); 148149 (The New Golden
Songbook, copyright 1955, copyright renewed 1983
by Random House) Unknown: 11 (bottom)
A c k n owled g me n t s
Diane Disney Miller, to whom I dedicate this cat-
alog, originally proposed a Mary Blair exhibition
for the Walt Disney Family Museum and offered
me the exciting challenge of being its curator.
Diane was always a positive leader and creative
dynamo. I miss her and regret that she did not
live to see the exhibition realized.
I am grateful for the solid support and
encouragement given to me from the beginning
by Ron Miller, Dianes husband, and the Walt
Disney Family Foundation.
At the Walt Disney Family Museum, I have
been most fortunate to work with a wonder-
ful and dedicated team, including Kirsten
Komoroske, executive director; Brenda Litzinger,
registrar; Mary Beth Culler, public programs
manager; John Stroh, manager of Audio-Visual;
Hillary Lyden, interpretive coordinator; Caitlin
nications manager; and Mark Gibson, digital
assets manager.
It was a pleasure to work closely with the
indispensable and knowledgeable Michael
Labrie, director of collections and exhibitions,
and the gifted Marina Villar Delgado, exhibition
and design manager, who designed a setting for
Mary Blairs art that is at once playful and
serene.
A majority of Mary Blair concept paintings
made for Disney films and several personal
artifacts in the exhibition are from the collection
extensive artwork of the WDFF has been aug-
mented and additional light shed on Mary Blairs
eclectic career through the generosity of several
outside lenders, including:
Richard J. Berenson, Society of Illustrators;
Michael Johnson Fine Arts; Dave Tourje,
Chouinard Foundation; Diane Muldrow, editorial
director, Golden Books/Random House; Brian
and Pam Bliss; Rudy and Debbie Lord; Joanna
Miller; Don Hahn; Craig and Gigi Barto; Eric
and Susan Goldberg; Fred Cline; Joe and Leah
Carroll; Mike Gabriel; Ron Lytle; Stuart Ng;
Mark Weissman; James Tim Walker; Mike Glad;
and Pam Burns-Clair.
I am especially grateful to Maggie Richardson
and Jeanne Chamberlain, the artists devoted
nieces, for their enthusiastic contributions of
additional loans of rare artworks and artifacts,
and patient replies to my constant questions.
For various kindnesses extended to me
during the course of my work, I express warm
thanks to Rolly Crump; Alice Davis; Ross Care;
Neil Grauer; Michael Giaimo; Charles Solomon;
Michael Barrier; J. B. Kaufman; Russell and
Karen Merritt; Karal Ann Marling; Leonard
S. Marcus; Ted Thomas and Kuniko Okubo
Thomas; Dan Shefelman, assistant professor
FIT; Karen Trivette Cannell, MLS, asstistant
professor Head of Special Collections and FIT
Archives, Fashion Institute of Technology
SUNY; Karl and Denise Cohen; Kendall Haney;
and Sheila M. Saxby.
At Weldon Owen Publishing, it was a distinct
pleasure to work with the superb team of Lucie
Parker, senior lifestyle editor; Kelly Booth,
creative director; Roger Shaw, vice-president
and publisher; Lorraine Rath, art director; and
the creative book designer Debbie Berne.
Thanks to Robert Cornfield, for his cogent
advice, as always. On the home front, I want to
thank my husband, Joseph Kennedy, for his
positive suggestions and all-enabling love.
Weldon Owen would like to thank Emily Clark,
Hilary Seeley, and Marisa Sols for editorial
assistance; Rachel Lopez Metzger for design
expertise; and John Lee/Artmix for original
photography.