The Incomparable Mary Blair

Disney fans know her by name. Her art is integral to the Disney animation legacy. For more than a dozen years, an unassuming, quiet-spoken woman dominated Disney design. The stylishness and vibrant color of Disney films in the early 1940s through mid-1950s came primarily from artist Mary Blair. In her prime, she was an amazingly prolific American artist who enlivened and influenced the not-so-small worlds of film, print, theme parks, architectural decor, and advertising. At its core, her art represented joyful creativity and communicated pure pleasure to the viewer. Her exuberant fantasies brimmed with beauty, charm, and wit, melding a child's fresh eye with adult experience. Blair's personal flair comprised the imagery that flowed effortlessly and continually for more than a half a century from her brush. Emulated by many, she remains inimitable: a dazzling sorceress of design and color.

Admiring her work, Walt Disney appoints her artistic director of Saludos Amigos (1943), then The Three Caballeros (1945). During the next decade, she assumes the post of artistic director for the main projects of animated films. She abandons her favorite technique, the watercolor, for the gouache. It is on Alice in Wonderland (1951) that her influence is most significant. She realizes hundreds of preliminary studies, which are of use as base for the decorators. After the conception of Peter Pan (1953), she leaves Disney studios to dedicate herself to painting. In 1963, Walt Disney asks her to come back to assure the artistic creation of the attraction It's a Small World, intended for the international fair of New York (1964-65). This famous attraction is finally brought back to Disneyland in 1966. Marie Blair continues her creation work for the Californian Park and realizes mural frescoes for the Inner Space Building and the Circle-Vision Building of Tomorrowland.

While Mary Blair may not be a household name to many outside the Disney forums, I feel it is of great importance to recognize such a creative, inspiring talent that has quietly touched so many with wonder and effortless imagination.

Cheers Mary Blair!