Walt Disney Family Museum to Exhibit Work by ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Artist Eyvind Earle
The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco will feature a new exhibition on the life and work of iconic Disney artist Eyvind Earle, beginning May 18 and running through Jan. 8.
Earle is best known for his lush landscapes and as the lead stylist behind Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” (1959). He has produced concept art for other Disney classics, including 1955’s “Lady and the Tramp” and “Peter Pan” (1953).
“Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle” is co-curated by Eyvind Earle Publishing CEO Ioan Szasz and Michael Labrie, director of collections and exhibitions for the museum and the Walt Disney Family Foundation.
“Whether it was through a modest snowy landscape for a Christmas card or a more intricate background concept for films like ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ Earle brought magic to everything he touched,” said Szasz, who starting working with Earle in 1988.
The exhibit will feature more than 250 works by Earle, including his rich work for Disney as well as his fine art, companion poetry, commercial illustrations, and lesser-known works, such as cartoon drawings done during his time in the Navy.
Earle, who died in 2000 at the age of 84, once said of working at the Walt Disney Studios: “I consider my six or seven years at Disney the greatest art school in the whole world, because I worked hard and fast with the very, very best men in the industry.”