July 25 2009

Surrounded as we are with moving pictures (television, internet video, DVDs), it's almost impossible to imagine a time when the only place that you could see moving pictures was in a movie theater ('movie" ... get it?).

So it's with that bit of nostalgia that I picked up the following two pastels, which were part of a set of about 25. As you'll see if you look into it, my other motivation was for capturing a bit of an interesting project from the history of WWII.

These pastels are related to a cartoon project know as THE NEW SPIRIT.

THE NEW SPIRIT was the first Walt Disney World War Two film, released just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and produced at breakneck speed at the studio, and underwritten by the government.

A special set of magnificent large pastel storyboards were created for the film for presentation to government officials in pitching the story created at the studio, including these two.

A color spread in Life Magazine showed the public some of these pastel storyboards, also including these two.

The first one shows patriotic factory whistles blasting. It is full pastel color on black paper, measuring 10 x 12”. It has an affixed number, 19, and the paper is five-hole Disney punched. Affixed is a black paper title “WHISTLE BLASTS.”

The second one shows an artistic expression of American factory might, giant factory “workhorses” as it were. It is full pastel color on black paper, measuring 10 x 12”. It has an affixed number, 8, and the paper is five-hole Disney punched.

If you are interested, you can view the cartoon, which starred Donald Duck, on YouTube, and read a little bit about the background of the project on Wikipedia.