Sunday, March 4, 2018

Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire




In looking back at Disney films, you may notice a dramatic shift in use of color that seems jarring and it was (jarring) to the “Nine Old Men” who were approving work at that time and did not approve of the use of these bright and beautiful hues.  But that didn’t stop Mary Blair and once she got started, she didn’t stop.  Well, she did stop at Disney Studios when she felt she was not able to get her ideas from the page to the screen, but she came back and was commissioned to create a ride.  You may have heard of it (and never been able to get the song out of your head too…): It’s a Small World!  Mary traveled the world and collected images that she painted in bright colors and geometric patterns that she brought back to put together to create this ride that was a quick tour around the world showing all we have in common and our unique cultural differences.  Brigette Barrager does a beautiful job of bringing Mary’s colors and shapes to life on the pages of Pocket Full of Colors and Amy Guglielmo and Jacquline Tourville work together to tell the story of this remarkable woman in a world full of men, both at Disney and in advertising.  Mary Blair’s genius and modern art brought Disney into the next phase of imagineering.


Title: Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire
Author: Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville
Illustrator: Brigette Barrager
Published 2017 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6131-3

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