Mary Blair worked at Walt Disney Studios for more than a dozen years making a huge contribution to the design of featured animations, like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. She also designed the favorite theme park ride- It’s a Small World. This book has lots of concept paintings she did for those movies. It also chronicles her freelance work- she did advertising illustrations for all kinds of companies from Baker’s Instant Chocolate Mix to Pall Mall cigarettes. She also illustrated many children’s books- which aren’t in this book- probably because they were Golden Books and not Disney books. Although leaving those out, the book still gives a thorough look at Mary’s prolific career with lots of history and photos of her too. I can see how Mary’s work could have influenced millions of contemporary artists. Her look is so classic it doesn’t even feel like someone created it. It’s as if it was always there. Read more about Mary here and here.

© Julia Rothman 2007