I am a Disney historian, author, and editor of 50 books about Disney. I became passionate about Disney's history when I realized how rich the history of Disney is and how talented the artists who worked for Disney were and still are. Early on, I realized that when Disney built his studio in the 1930s, thanks to the Great Depression, he was able to hire the best artists from around the world (who were then unemployed). I also noticed that little was known about them. Since those artists have been revolutionizing the popular arts for 100 years, I could not help but be fascinated by their talent and their stories.
This biography of Walt Disney is the first that I read. It is the official biography of Disney, and it gave me the foundational knowledge I needed to start digging deeper into the subject of Disney history.
I find it well-written, extremely clear, and easy to read. I also feel that it is extremely lively as the author relies on a great number of interviews to enrich his work with relevant anecdotes along with important facts about Disney’s life and career.
I recommend it as the perfect starting point for learning about Disney history. Soon after reading this one, I recommend reading The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney by Michael Barrier.
This is the Commemorative Edition of one of the most trusted and respected nonfiction books about Walt Disney ever written!
Includes 4 commemorative essays; a photo insert with more than 60 behind-the-scenes images; and an endnotes section with insightful passages from 15 Disney historians and authors to provide further context for modern audiences.
Walt Disney is an American hero. From Mickey Mouse to Disneyland, he changed the face of American culture. His is a success story like no other: a man who developed animated film into an art form and made a massive contribution to the folklore of the world.…
I have always been fascinated by the artists who created Disney’s shorts and animated features. I was also looking for a book showcasing pre-production artwork I had never seen before.
John Canemaker’s seminal book, which explores the lives and careers of Disney’s “concept artists,” made my dreams come true. It is a volume that is both an absolute delight to read (Canemaker is one of the very best writers alive) and a feast for the eyes. This is the book that inspired me to write my own art books.
Born from daydreams, meditations on color, character and form, and sheer inventiveness, Disney's pioneering animated films begin in the imagination of the "inspirational sketch" artist. Allowed to work with an unprecedented degree of creative freedom, these talented painters, designers, and illustrators attempt to conjure the "look" of a film - the appearance of characters, the action's locale, the mood, and the use of color; in short, the film's aura and feel. The result is some of the most beautiful and intriguing art to come out of the Disney studios. For the first time ever, noted animation historian John Canemaker chronicles…
In order to really understand Disney history, I felt that I had to learn more about all of the ideas that Disney has explored and shelved. I could not believe my eyes when I discovered Charles Solomon’s volume on that very subject.
This book is one of a handful that changed my life as it led to a life-long fascination for the “hidden art” of Disney. Along with John Canemaker’s Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists, it is one of the two books that led me to write my own artbooks. I still re-read it from time to time up to this day.
Disney artists worked on many projects, both shorts and feature-length films, and their rich and varied work - whether in the form of concept art, animation drawings, storyboards, or gags - is a testament to the quality and innovation the studio achieved, even on unfinished projects. After a brief Introduction examining how the studio operated during Walt Disney's day, Solomon surveys the many categories of uncompleted film, illustrating each with beautiful examples of work by the staff artists: Mickey, Donald, and Goofy shorts; Fairy Tale Projects like Hans Christian Andersen tales and the ambitious feature Chanticleer and Reynard; wartime propaganda…
I have a strong personal connection to Latin America, having lived there for several years and being married to a Brazilian.
This also means that Disney’s Latin American features (Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros) have always been among my favorites. Therefore, a book about the making of those movies must rise to the top of my list, especially since the book is also written by one of the best Disney historians, the esteemed JB Kaufman.
For years, I was frustrated to see Disney historians focus primarily on the role that male artists played at the Walt Disney Studio. I always felt that someone should, one day, write a full book about the many women artists who worked at Disney.
When historian Mindy Johnson filled this important gap, she did it with this massive (and beautifully illustrated) volume, which immediately became one of the most important reference books about Disney history that I own (and I own hundreds). It is a huge book, which is also an easy read!
From the earliest origins of animated imagery, the colorful link between paper and screen was created by legions of female artists working on the slick surface of celluloid sheets.
With calligraphic precision and Rembrandtesque mastery, these women painstakingly brought pencil drawings to vibrant, dimensional life. Yet perhaps as a reflection of the transparent canvas they created on, the contributions and history of these animation artists have remained virtually invisible and largely undocumented, until now.
Walt Disney's pioneering efforts in animation transformed novelty cartoons into visual masterpieces, establishing many "firsts" for women within the entertainment industry along the way. Focusing on…
As the Walt Disney Studio entered its first decade and embarked on some of the most ambitious animated films of the time, Disney hired a group of “concept artists” whose sole mission was to explore ideas and inspire their fellow animators. Four of these early pioneers are featured in this volume: Albert Hurter, Ferdinand Horvath, Gustaf Tenggren, and Bianca Majolie.
This book (the first in a series of 6) is heavily illustrated with never-seen-before artwork developed by those artists for the Disney shorts from the 1930s, including many unproduced projects, as well as for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and some early work for later features such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.
The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…
