Drawings for Animated Films 1914-1978

American animation in all its colorful, expressive, and humorous vitality was celebrated in a special exhibition, Drawings for Animated Films 1914-1978, at The Drawing Center in 1978. The exhibition of 135 works featured drawings from some of the earliest animated films made in the country, a selection of the most famous cartoon characters, and examples of the diversity of approaches that a new generation of independent animators were bringing to the medium. This unique historical exhibition was accompanied by special film showings, lectures, and an animation workshop.

The earliest works in the exhibition were drawings, which until that point in time had recently been considered lost, from Winsor McCay's famous Gertie the Dinosaur film of 1914. Other early works included "Betty Boop" and "Koko the Clown" drawings from the Fleischer Studios and a drawing of the 1930s by Otto Messmer, creator of "Felix the Cat".

The major Hollywood studios were represented by the cartoon characters which they had made famous throughout the world, and which were still perennially popular in the late 1970s. These included MGM's "Tom and Jerry", Warner Brothers' "Bugs Bunny", "Wile E. Coyote", and "Roadrunner", "Mickey Mouse", "Pinocchio", "Snow White", and sketches from Fantasia (1940) from Disney Studios. Animators including Chuck Jones, one of the creators of "Daffy Duck", and Bob Clampett, creator of "Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent", were also represented, as well as Walter Lantz's "Woody Woodpecker". Recent feature length films were also presented, including Yellow Submarine, which featured the Beatles, and Raggedy Ann and Andy (1976).

Independent animators were featured, including Oskar Fischinger, John and Faith Hubley, and Robert Breer, with drawings from his film in progress, LMNO. Also included were a new generation of artists, including Sally Cruikshank, with drawings from her films Quasi at the Quackadero and Make Me Psychic, Sara Petty, with drawings from her abstract film, Shadrac, and Victor Faccinto with "Video Vic" and the "Arm of God" from his films Shameless and Filet of Soul. Other films represented were John Canemaker's Confessions of a Stardreamer, Sandra Moore's Lives of Firecrackers, Kathy Rose's Booklings, and Michael Langenstein's Eternal Order.

The "Leda and the Swan" episode from Maureen Selwood's Odalisque (1978) was illustrated, as was Dennis Pies' surrealistic Sonoma. George Griffin was represented by four anthropomorphic house drawings from his film Head and Richard Protovin by four drawings from the waterfall sequence of his film Straw Pib.

The exhibition, which was directed by Marie Keller, traveled after its New York showing, under the auspices of the Gallery Association of New York State.