In a 1991 animated film beauty and the Beast, A young woman, Bell dances and sings in a magical castle where inanimate objects come to life. The character’s cast includes a candlestick with a French accent and a frivolous flapping. A couple’s teapot and her son, a teacup. Pendulum clock; and a loud mouth wardrobe.
These may seem like a product of the animator’s imagination, but in fact their origins are in a decorative and luxurious 18th-century style aimed at bringing lightness and vibrancy to the seriousness of the darkness of Baroque. It comes directly from a French Rococo.
The parallel desire of 18th-century Rococo artisans and 20th-century Disney animators to inspire, delight and awe the audience is now on display at “Inspirational Walt Disney: France.” It is the core of “Animation of Decorative Arts”. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In total, dozens of Rococo objects from Met’s own treasure are on display, along with 150 original artwork from Disney Studios from three animated films. Cinderella (1950), sleeping Beauty (1959), and beauty and the Beast (1991).
The term “Disneyfication” tends to be used negatively, but museum director Max Hollein writes that Walt Disney influenced him like most others.
“It’s hard to think of other Americans who have had such a widespread and long-term influence on visual arts,” he writes.
Please see the image of the exhibition below.
Eyvind Earle, sleeping Beauty (1959). Walt Disney Animation Research Library. © Disney.
Anonymous, Portrait of Magdalena Gonzalez (1580). Schloss Ambras, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna © KHM-Museumsverband.
Mary Blair, Cinderella (1950). Walt Disney Animation Research Library © Disney.
Meissen Factory, Johann Joachim Kendler, Faustina Bordoni and Fox (Around 1743). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Frank Armitage, Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant, Disneyland Paris, (1988).Walt Disney Imagineering Collection© Disney
Walt Disney Studios, Vulture (Around 1937). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Installation view, “Installation Walt Disney: Animation of French decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”. Photo: Paul Lakenauer, provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. © Disney
Installation view, “Installation Walt Disney: Animation of French decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”. Photo: Paul Lakenauer, provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. © Disney
Installation view, “Installation Walt Disney: Animation of French decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”. Photo: Paul Lakenauer, provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. © Disney
Installation view, “Installation Walt Disney: Animation of French decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”. Photo: Paul Lakenauer, provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. © Disney
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