Eyvind Earle

Eyvind Earle (April 26 1916 – July 20 2000) was an American artist, author and illustrator, noted for his contribution to the background illustration and styling of Disney animated films in the 1950s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rahr-West Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona State University Art Museum have purchased Earle's works for their permanent collections. His works have also been shown in many one-man exhibitions throughout the world.

Early career

Earle's first exhibition was at the Charles Morgan Galleries in New York in 1937. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_11_32/ai_n15878651 "Art Business News", Nov 2005.] ] In 1939 the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased one his works. His work at this time was realistic painting. In the 1940s he painted more than 800 Christmas card designs for the American Artist Group.

1950s

In 1951 he joined Disney as an assistant background painter and received credit for the experimental background painting in the Goofy short, "For Whom the Bulls Toll". [Sacvan Bercovitch, Cyrus R. K. Patell, "The Cambridge History of American Literature", Cambridge University Press, 2002, p536. ISBN 0521497310] In 1953 he created the look of the Academy Award-winning "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom". He was responsible for the styling, background and colors for "Sleeping Beauty". He also worked on "Peter Pan" and "Lady and the Tramp".

1960s

Earle returned to full-time painting in 1966. much of this work was not exhibited in his lifetime.

In 1998, Earle was honored at the 26th Annie Awards with the Winsor McCay Award for a lifetime achievement in the art of animation.

Earle was critically acclaimed by such publications as "Time", "The Los Angeles Times", "The New York Times", "The New York World-Telegram", "The Art News" and "The New York Sun". His artwork was the inspiration for the graphic style of Sony's first computer animated film, Open Season.Fact|date=February 2008

References