In August I went to see Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts at the Wallace Collection in London. The exhibition explores the influence of French 18th century rococo design on Disney Studios, and specifically on Cinderella (1950) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).
In 1935 Walt Disney went to France for the second time (he’d gone over first as an ambulance driver in 1918), and returned to California with a collection of over 300 books. This formed the main reference library for the Disney artists.
It made me think about collecting reference, as I wonder sometimes what my own career would look like if the internet, and Google Images, hadn’t come along when it did. Reference is so easily gathered these days - it was interesting to think about how different things would have been in the 1940s, how much harder to draw from other times and cultures.
I’ve always been a reluctant researcher, at best. I think I’ve not (yet?) developed a practise of integrating research into my workflow - I rush through it, impatient to get to the drawing part. But actually I can see that making this newsletter may help me slow down and look more…
I learnt in the exhibition that the original opening to Beauty and the Beast, eventually cut, was based on Fragonard’s The Swing, a permanent denizen of The Wallace Collection. I’ve had a go at imitating this painting myself a couple of times! Looking at them again, I can see how I’ve developed since my first attempt in March 2021, to the most recent attempts this month.
Both times I was too background-averse to get very far with it! My lack of attention to detail reveals me, ultimately, as just not very rococo. Another riveting puzzle piece in this journey of self-discovery!
BRILLIANT. This newsletter is the cultural highpoint of my week!
Totally here for the cartoons / self reflection, and this week it shoved me down an internet rabbithole on slightly racy paintings. Loving it!
That swing painting is one of my favourites. It’s intriguing, a little creepy (the dude lurking in the bushes) and comic and it just captures me. Love your rendition too.