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The Met is taking its first-ever look at Disney’s theme parks as part of a special exhibition dedicated to the inspirations behind Walt Disney’s most iconic creations
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 10 Dec 2021
This is the first time the Met has explored the work of the legendary Walt Disney Credit: Paul Lachenauer, Courtesy of The Met
The Met has debuted a first for the historic institution, with a new exhibition exploring how French art and design inspired the work of the legendary Walt Disney.
Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts will be the first-ever exhibition at The Met to explore the work of Walt Disney and the hand-drawn animation of the Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Opening today (December 10), the exhibition “will draw new parallels between the magical creations of the Disney Studios and their artistic models”, examining Disney’s personal fascination with European art and the use of French motifs in Disney films and theme parks.
The exhibition will feature 60 works of 18th-century European decorative arts and design - from tapestries and furniture to Boulle clocks and Sèvres porcelain - with these artefacts featured alongside 150 production artworks and works on paper from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, Walt Disney Archives, Walt Disney Imagineering Collection, and The Walt Disney Family Museum. Video will also comprise an element of the exhibition, with film footage illustrating the technological and artistic developments of the studio during Walt Disney’s lifetime and beyond.
The exhibition will also mark the 30th anniversary of the animated theatrical release of Beauty and the Beast. The largest section of the exhibition will be devoted to the film, which is famous for bringing inanimate objects to life. Particular focus will be given to Beast’s transformation scene, animated by Glen Keane and inspired by sculptor Auguste Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais, as well as the ballroom scene, whose vast architectural backdrop drew on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
CREDIT: DISNEY
The concluding section of the exhibition will examine Disney architecture, specifically the fairytale castles that are central focal points in many Disney movies and theme parks.
While the fantastical buildings exist outside actual periods and styles, Disney’s artists were heavily influenced by French and German architecture when creating their settings, particularly for the operator’s iconic parks.
A presentation of Walt Disney Imagineering concept art will illustrate these Disney architectural designs and historical comparisons, such as the 16th-century Loire Valley chateaux and the 19th-century Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.
The centrepiece of the parks section of the exhibition will be the first bird’s eye view of Disneyland, famously drawn up by Herbert Ryman under Walt Disney’s guidance over one weekend in 1953.
“In mounting The Met’s first-ever exhibition devoted to Walt Disney and his studios’ oeuvre, it was important for us to explore his sources of inspiration as well as to recognise that his studio’s animated interpretations of European fairytales have become a lens through which many view Western art and culture today,” said Wolf Burchard, the exhibition’s curator.
“Our fresh look on this material, which prompts an effervescent dialogue between the drawings and illustrations of some of the most talented artists in the Walt Disney Animation Studios and a rich array of the finest 18th-century furniture and porcelain, brings to life the humour, wit, and ingenuity of French Rococo decorative arts.”
Following its run at the Met, which takes place between December 10 and March 6, the exhibition will then move to London where it will be displayed as part of the Wallace Collection starting in spring 2022.
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