Books &Illustration 11 Jul 2007 08:08 am
Eyvind Earle: Peter & Wendy I
– I’m an Eyvind Earle fan. I have been ever since getting my hands on Bob Thomas‘ original version of The Art of Animation (1959), which promoted Sleeping Beauty and its artwork, and then going up to Radio City Music Hall to see the first theatrical run of the film. After the Disney film, seeing Earle’s Nativity film on the Tennessee Ernie Ford show and watching Paul Bunyan and other Disney shorts of the period even closer, studying his work made me more of a fan.
I got to meet the man thanks to Michael Barrier. We had one of the craziest interviews ever when we drove upstate to his house and sat in a somewhat darkening room as the afternoon dimmed and Earle continued to quietly answer the questions.
(Click any image to enlarge.)
I loved that day, but I loved Earle’s work even more. After posting Retta Scott‘s Golden Book of Cinderella, I realized that I had this book, Peter and Wendy, which is Earle’s odd adaptation of Peter Pan. He’s obviously in love with Cinemascope in that most of the book’s illustrations are two-page spreads. Sort of wide screen proportions. This is unusual for a Little Golden Book.
The images look a bit like the backgrounds in Paul Bunyan, and the characters are not quite on model with the film. The printing, as with most of these books, is pretty dull. You know a lot has been lost in the transfer.
Again, because of the number of illustrations, I’ll break it into two postings.
Enjoy.
on 11 Jul 2007 at 11:25 am 1.Bill Robinson said …
Beautiful! I’ve got a different Big Golden Book that is just “Peter Pan” but it’s got similar paintings in it. Thanks for posting this…got any more??
on 11 Jul 2007 at 12:41 pm 2.Michael said …
I believe that PETER PAN was illustrated by John Hench and Al Dempster. It’s a nice book as well.
on 11 Jul 2007 at 2:25 pm 3.Thad Komorowski said …
Oh yes, have this one as well. Lovely, lovely illustrations.
on 12 Jul 2007 at 10:41 am 4.Stephen Macquignon said …
I enjoy seeing these some time more then the movie
on 11 Aug 2009 at 3:12 pm 5.leesa said …
These are gorgeous! Might you possibly put them up just a bit higher res so they could be used as Wallpaper? i’d love to fill my 1600 X 1000 old Apple Monitor with one of these.
I wish I could find hi res Eyvind Earle too… but it seems his dealers keep a lid on those gorgeous prints.
Thanx so much!!!
~leesa
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