Animation Artifacts &Books &Disney &Models &repeated posts 11 Apr 2008 08:07 am
Recap Friday – Celebrity Caricature
- Back in July 2006 I wrote about the art exhibit of celebrity caricature which came from the Library of Congress and was seen in the NY Public Library at 42nd Street. This show still stands out in my mind.
-I’m currently researching the art of Covarrubias. An exhibit at New York’s Public Library at 42nd Street in 1998 was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It was a program of “Celebrity Caricature” mostly from the 20′s & 30′s. Covarrubias, the developing Hirschfield, and a number of other brilliant artists were all represented well. In among the art was a small section on animated caricature. Drawings by Tee Hee and Joe Grant were on display with a couple of cel set-ups. There were also a couple of WB model sheets (without artist names.)
From the book of that exhibit I’m posting some of the animation art represented. Again no animators’ names are given. I remember well
_____(cel – Charlie McCarthy & W.C. Fields in________some beautiful caricatures by Joe
_____“Mother Goose Goes Hollywood”)_____________Grant who came to Disney’s studio to _____________________________________________work on this film.
_______________Joe E. Brown and Martha Raye from “Autograph Hound”
____(Click on any image to enlarge)
Garbo & Mickey – animation drawing for Mickey’s Gala Premiere
Greta Garbo model sheet for Warner Bros.
A small sampling of this show can be found on the National Portrait Gallery website. Non-animation caricatures are on view there, and the beautiful book/catalogue can be purchased there.
Credits for the above stills goes to:
1. “Mother Goose Goes Hollywood” from the collection of Jeff & Therese Lotman
2-5. “Autograph Hound” National Portrait Gallery, Wash.D.C.
6. “Mickey’s Gala Premiere” WDFeature Animation Research Library
7. The Steve Schneider Collection
Larry T. on his blog, Random Semiconscious Musings, has a great post on Mother Goose Goes Hollywood wherein he identifies all of the caricatures with matching photographs. It’s great to see the likes of Ned Sparks (pictured), George Arliss and Joe Penner.
on 11 Apr 2008 at 8:31 am 1.Janet Benn said …
Hi,
What a nice way to start the day, with these fabulous drawings! “Mother Goose goes Hollywood” has been one of my favorite cartoons since I was a small child. I love the Garbo model. I can explore the character design in each one of these examples.
on 11 Apr 2008 at 12:20 pm 2.Thad said …
Mike-
This is… bizarre. My post today was devoted to (in this case, ‘lost’) celebrity caricatures too!!!
on 11 Apr 2008 at 12:36 pm 3.Stephen Worth said …
Here’s some great Covarrubias!
enjoy
Steve
on 11 Apr 2008 at 8:04 pm 4.Leila said …
I went to see that exhibit twice at the National Portrait Gallery. There were some beautiful caricatures by Ralph Barton as well.
on 12 Apr 2008 at 12:53 pm 5.John said …
Surprisingly, the 1954 cheater cartoon “Popeye’s 20th Anniversary” does a strong job mimicking Hirschfield’s charactered style in drawing the Paramount-featured celebrities of the period, which I suppose was a good fit, since Famous Studios was just at the opposite end of Times Square from where Hirschfield was working (I’m not sure if this was Al Eugster’s work, but he was head animator on the cartoon).
on 12 Apr 2008 at 2:41 pm 6.Michael said …
Hi John,
That book is the catalogue of the show from the Library of Congress, and it’s the orginal source for a lot of the illustrations posted. I’d recommend everyone to get a copy for themselves.
on 12 Apr 2008 at 3:14 pm 7.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
I love to see caricatures of Garbo. Unfortunately most people only know her through her deadpan role in “Ninotchka,” which isn’t typical.