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This fascinating, multimedia exhibition offers surprising new insights in the imagery of master storyteller Walt Disney (1901-1966). Whether young or old, everyone knows the classics of animated movies such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940) or The Jungle Book (1967). Still, only very few people realize how the images of these movies are deeply rooted in European art and literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the juxtaposition of original drawings, paintings, figure models and film clips produced by the early Walt Disney Studio (1928-1967), with paintings and sculptures by German Romantics, French Symbolists, Victorians or Surrealists, the exhibition reveals concrete relations between popular and high culture, between literature and film, as well as between American and European art.
The exhibition starts with a survey of Disney animation's development: from early black and white animated shorts, such as Steamboat Willie (1928), one is guided towards the first full-length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which signifies Disney's breakthrough, and which raised the animated movie to the level of the Hollywood classics. The pioneering role of the Walt Disney Studio is demonstrated in this exhibition through rarely seen original sketches and paintings from the collection of the Disney Animation Research Library in Los Angeles. The Studio employed a team of international artists, as Walt Disney himself had abandoned drawing early on, in order to devote himself completely to his real talent, story telling. He concentrated on discovering literary and artistic sources, which he then had transformed by his highly gifted artists into masterpieces of animation. When Walt Disney travelled through Europe in 1935, he acquired over 350 illustrated books, ranging from fairy tales to classics of literature and art history. This library became a crucial foundation for his Studio: artists like Albrecht Dürer, Pieter Breughel, Giovanni Piranesi, Honoré Daumier, Gustave Doré, Gustave Moreau, Victor Hugo, Arnold Böcklin, Franz von Stuck, Moritz von Schwind, Caspar David Friedrich, Gustav Carus, Edwin Landseer, John Anster Fitzgerald and John Atkinson Grimshaw can thus be pointed out as concrete visual sources of inspiration for the draughtsmen. This also applies to the works of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, which lead to a revival of Gothic architecture in the 19th century, or Castle Neuschwanstein, the principal creation of the Bavarian King Ludwig II, which were also familiar to Disney and his collaborators. For his Studio, Disney only engaged the best artists, many of them immigrants from Europe, where they had received a classical academic art training; for example, the Swiss Albert Hurter (1883-1942), the Swede Gustaf Tenggren (1896-1970) or the Dane Kay Nielsen (1886-1957). They combined their extensive knowledge of European art and folklore of various epochs with the influences of their new home, the United States. These were the ideal conditions for creating a new visual language, which ultimately conquered the entire world. Thus, in Munich, masterpieces of animation art created during Disney's life will be paired with masterpieces of art history which served as their sources of inspiration. The short movie Destino, which is based on collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí, marks the culmination of this exchange of visual mediums. Both geniuses had high esteem for each other, and Disney commissioned a short movie from the great surrealist, for which Dalí realised many sketches and paintings. The movie itself, however, was only realized posthumously in 2003 and will be shown in the exhibition. Under the title Il était une fois Walt Disney, aux sources de l'art des studios Disney, this exhibition was first presented in 2006-07 at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, meeting there with great success among audiences and critics alike. Commissioned by the French Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the curatorial team was led by Bruno Girveau, Guy Cogeval and Pierre Lambert. Bruno Girveau, chief curator at the Paris École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and Roger Diederen, curator of the Kunsthalle, adapted the exhibition for Munich with extraordinary new loans. After Munich, the show will have its final presentation at the Helsinki City Art Museum (25.2.-31.5 2009). Besides the many private and public lenders from all over the world, we would like to extend special thanks to the Walt Disney Animation Research Library and the Musée d'Orsay for their generous support of this project.
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Opening hours
September 19, 2008 - January 25, 2009 open daily from 10 am to 8 pm closed on December 24 December 31 open from 10 am to 2 pm Admission Regular: 10,- Groups of 10 persons and over and senior citizens: 8,- School-age children, students and the unemployed: 4,- → Additional reductions Public tours of "Volkshochschule" (in German) Mo, Sa: 11:30 Uhr Tu, Th, Fr: 15:30 Uhr We: 18:30 Uhr Private guided tours (optionally in English and other languages): Tuesday Friday during opening hours and Saturday 10 am 1 pm, by previous arrangement only. Private parties with guided tour outside opening hours: Tel. +49-(0)89-22 44 12 Guided tours for children (in German only): Every Wednesday 3 pm - 4 pm, tel. +49-(0)89-224412, admission: 4.00 Special opening hours for class visits: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 9.00 am 10.00 am, registration required: +49-(0)89-224412 English language lecture on October 14 AntennaAudio offers an Audioguide ( 5,/ 3,50) Accompanying Events Flyer Catalogue published by Hirmer with colour illustrations of all exhibits and contributions by Robin Allan, Roger Diederen, Bruno Girveau, Pierre Lambert, Leila Smith and Charles Solomon. (25,- € at the Kunsthalle) How to reach the 'Kunsthalle', Café, Shop... For press information regarding this exhibition, as well as images that can be downloaded, please contact the press department of the Kunsthalle. Contact: Leonie Mellinghoff Tel. 089 - 378 281 62 Fax 089 - 378 489 39 presse@hypo-kunsthalle.de |
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