The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life

7. Of Mice and Men: Art Critics and Animators

7 O-f Mice ana Men: Art c.ritics ana Animators IN 1933, an amusing little story on animation's leading star appeared in the movie magazine Screenland. Entitled "The Art of Mickey Mouse:' it satirized a recent showing of Disney watercolors and drawings at the Kennedy Art Gallery on Fifth Avenue. The author reported that Mickey, having shed his trademark short buttoned pants and oversize shoes, now wore "a morning coat, striped trousers, a gleaming white vest, and pearl gray spats." He insisted on being called Michael, and holding a walking stick under one arm and gazing through a pair of spectacles, he commented on the paintings' similarity to the works of Daumier and Matisse. The elegant mouse lectured the reporter: "Please, no unseemly noises. Remember that you are in the presence of Art! ... Once I was just a slapstick comedian oh , those tiresome days! Now I am not only a respected Artist, but a subject of Art as well:' The pretense vanished, of course, when Minnie showed up and announced a great party where an open cookie jar would be available. Mickey bolted for the door, calling out over his shoulder, "See you again soon. I want to talk to you about Neo-impressionism:'! The whimsical article offered a brief taste ofa fascinating and well-publicized debate in American culture during the 1930S - what were the artistic merits of Walt Disney's work? This discussion consisted of not only playful articles in fan magazines but serious pieces in some of the leading newspapers and journals of opinion. Commentary appeared in publications rang- OfMice and Men: Art Critics and Animators I 121 ing from Variety and Woman's Home Companion to the New York Times, Art Digest, and The Nation. This public preoccupation raised a number ofissues and became a fascinating part of Disney's emergence in the 1930S as a major cultural figure. 1. Is Disney Art? The grounds for the debate were established at the onset ofthe decade, when diverse commentators began to insist that the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony films were not just clever entertainment but a serious new art form. By the mid-1930S, assertions that Mickey was a "supreme artistic achievement" or that Disney movies had gone "almost too far beyond popular understanding" were commonplace. Newspaper columns claimed that "there are only two genuinely American forms ofart: jazz and Walt Disney:' The Art Digest insisted that "Walt Disney has invented a new art and a very profound one. The animated cartoon under his hand has developed into a fourth dimensional world where anything can and does happen - where laws of gravitation are suspended, where physical resistance becomes limitless and, beyond all that, the sensitive imagination of a great artist has created something very close to the work of a real genius."2 Many critics agreed that the animation producer was truly a great artist. Newspaper essays carried such titles as "Walt Disney, Artist;' while Mark Van Doren termed him a "first-rate artist" who "lives somewhere near the human center and knows innumerable truths that cannot be taught." It was not uncommon to see Disney described as "Leonardo da Disney" or "a twentieth-century Michelangelo;' while his bustling, productive studio was compared to that of Rembrandt. With hushed reverence, stories on the Disney operation reported the prominence given to serious drawing and painting. "The word Art, spelled with a capital 'A; is taboo on the Disney lot, but constant study is given to works of the great masters;' the Hollywood Citizen-News reported.3 Affirmations of Disney as artist, however, went beyond generic praise. Critics marshaled serious formulations, arguments, and observations to buttress their claims. Dorothy Grafiy, for example, art critic for the Philadelphia Record and curator of the art collections at Drexel University, became one of Walt Disney's most thoughtful and friendly critics. Not only did she write favorably of his work, but in the mid-1930s she organized an exhibition of Disney drawings at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Her enthusiasm was rooted in a clear perception of Disney's aesthetic significance. In July 1933, Grafiy contributed an important essay to the American Magazine ofArt. Entitled ''America's Youngest Art," it explored animation in the United States and awarded Disney the lead role in the development of this "folk art of a sophisticated century:' She grounded animation in the 122 I The Disney Golden Age theories of Cezanne and...