Eyvind Earle
{{Short description|American artist, author and illustrator (1916–2000)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eyvind Earle
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1916|4|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|7|20|1916|4|26|mf=y}}
| death_place = Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, U.S.
| spouses = {{marriage|Joan Kennedy|1972}}{{cite news |title=Joan Kennedy is Bride of Artist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/01/archives/joan-kennedy-is-bride-of-artist.html |access-date=30 January 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=1 October 1972}}{{subscription required}}
| children = 1
| known_for = Painting backgrounds for Disney's classic films
| awards = {{ubl|{{awards|Winsor McCay Award|1998}}|{{awards|Disney Legends|2015}}}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.eyvindearle.com/}}
}}
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's animated films in the 1950s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=Eyvind+Earle The Met, collection search for Eyvind Earle], downloaded 9 October 2024. New York, Rahr West Art Museum,[https://www.manitowoc.org/archive.aspx?amid=&type=&adid=9149 RWAM Board Minutes, Dec 21, 2023][https://www.manitowoc.org/Search?searchPhrase=Eyvind%20Earle&pageNumber=1&perPage=10&departmentId=-1 Rahr West Art Museum, Eyvind Earle search], downloaded 9 October 2024. 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 life
Eyvind Earle was born in New York on April 26, 1916 to General Ferdinand Pinney (F.P.) Earle and Charlotte Kristine Herman, F.P.'s fourth wife.{{cite news |title=F.P. EARLE DIVORCED AGAIN.; Artist's Fourth Wife Wins Decree in Los Angeles, Charging Cruelty |id={{ProQuest|104264167}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/01/04/archives/fp-earle-divorced-again-artists-fourth-wife-wins-decree-in-los.html |work=The New York Times |date=4 January 1927 }} The family moved to Hollywood in 1918, where F.P. worked as a film director and Earle's mother was a piano teacher.[http://www.animazing.com/gallery/pages/bio_earle.html Animazing bio of Eyvind Earle]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201155915/http://www.animazing.com/gallery/pages/bio_earle.html |date=December 1, 2010 }} The marriage was strained, and Earle's father was heavily abusive toward his mother. A year after the couple's marriage on October 7th 1915, F.P. was reported to have stabbed Charlotte with a pair of scissors while verbally and physically abusing her.
A childhood bout with polio affected muscles on the left side of Earle's face. He began painting when he was 10 years old. Shortly after his artistic start, his parents divorced, leaving Eyvind in his mother's custody for a period of time. During Earle's early teenage years, he and his father traveled to Europe to study art.{{cite news |title=DEATH OF GEN. F. P. EARLE; Was a Noted Hotel Man and Owner of the Jumel Mansion. Famous Revolutionary Structure Was Built by a Near Relative of One of His Ancestors |id={{ProQuest|96353420}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/01/03/archives/death-of-gen-f-p-earle-was-a-noted-hotel-man-and-owner-of-the-jumel.html |work=The New York Times |date=3 January 1903 }} It was during this trip that Earle held his first solo art show in Paris at the age of 14. Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery. (Jan 8, 2018). "Eyvind Earle at SF's Walt Disney Family Museum."http://bodegabayheritagegallery.com/BBH_Gallery_Monthly_July_17.html
Career
Earle's first New York exhibition was at the Charles Morgan Galleries in 1937.[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_11_32/ai_n15878651 Art Business News, Nov 2005.] In a 1939 exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased one of his works for its permanent collection. His work at this time was realistic painting.
Starting in 1939 Earle began his long and successful career of selling Christmas cards, that he designed and printed himself for the American Artist Group. Starting out merely as a means of survival, he formed a Christmas card company called "Monroe and Earle" with an old family friend of his. He printed these cards with the help of Everett Ball, with whom he later formed a separate company by the name of "Earle and Ball". He created over 800 designs between 1938 and 1995, and sold more than 300 million copies.Ioan Szasz, Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle, 2017, p.28-29
In 1951 he joined Walt Disney Productions as an assistant background painter and received credit for the experimental background painting in the Goofy short, For Whom the Bulls Toil.[{{GBurl|0pY0sZpW1JYC|p=536}} Page 536] in: {{cite book |chapter=Was Modernism Antitotalitarian? |pages=512–538 |editor-last1=Bercovitch |editor-first1=Sacvan |title=The Cambridge History of American Literature |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-139-05359-4 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521497312 }} In 1953 he created the look of Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, a short animated film which won an Academy Award and a Cannes Film Festival Award. He also worked on Peter Pan, Working for Peanuts, Pigs is Pigs, Paul Bunyan, and Lady and the Tramp. He was responsible for the styling, background and colors for the highly acclaimed Sleeping Beauty.
In 1961, Earle completed an 18-minute animated segment of the Nativity story for the Tennessee Ernie Ford hosted television special The Story Of Christmas on NBC.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ernieford.com/THESTORYOFCHRISTMAS.html |title=The Story of Christmas |access-date=August 25, 2015 |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904144828/http://www.ernieford.com/THESTORYOFCHRISTMAS.html |url-status=dead }}Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/flwqcpLiSUk Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20101027222318/http://www.youtube.com//watch?v=flwqcpLiSUk Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flwqcpLiSUk| title = "What Child Is This?" from THE STORY of CHRISTMAS | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
Earle returned to full-time painting in 1966, producing watercolors, oils, sculptures, drawings, scratchboards, and limited-edition serigraphs. Much of this work was not exhibited in his lifetime.
He died of esophageal cancer in 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-25-me-58783-story.html|title = Archives|website = Los Angeles Times| date=July 25, 2000 }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/30/nyregion/eyvind-earle-84-painted-settings-for-disney-films.html|title = Eyvind Earle, 84; Painted Settings for Disney Films|newspaper = The New York Times|date = July 30, 2000}}
Legacy
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.
Earle's work and distinct graphic styling has continued to inspire new generations of artists and animators, serving to influence the look of other animated films. These have included the Disney features Pocahontas and Frozen,The Art of Frozen, Charles Solomon, Chronicle Books, 2015 as well as the graphic style of Sony Pictures Animation's debut film, Open Season.The Art of Open Season, Linda Sunshine, Insight Editions, 2006{{Cite web|url=http://www.awn.com/animationworld/open-season-diary-2d-3d-production-design|title='Open Season' Diary: 2D to 3D — Production Design}}
The Banner Saga, a video game by developers Stoic, draws heavily from Earle's style and contains a character named after him. He is credited for 'Artistic Inspiration'.
In May 2017 The Walt Disney Family Museum hosted an 8-month original retrospective exhibit: Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle.{{Cite web|url=http://abc7news.com/society/awaking-beauty-exhibit-pays-tribute-to-sleeping-beauty-artist/2005403/|title = 'Awaking Beauty' exhibit pays tribute to 'Sleeping Beauty' artist Eyvind Earle|date = May 17, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://waltdisney.org/exhibitions/awaking-beauty-art-eyvind-earle|title=Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle | the Walt Disney Family Museum}} An accompanying hard cover exhibition catalog was published under the same name {{ISBN|978-1681882710}}.
Awards
In 1998, Earle was honored at the 26th Annie Awards with the Winsor McCay Award for a lifetime achievement in the art of animation.
In 2015, in a presentation at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Earle was inducted as a Disney Legend.{{Cite web|url=https://d23.com/announcing-the-2015-disney-legends/|title=Announcing the 2015 Disney Legends|date=July 20, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/eyvind-earle/|title=Eyvind Earle}} His daughter, Kristin Thompson, accepted on her father's behalf.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/wmzcxK9TNnc Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20151209065114/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmzcxK9TNnc Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmzcxK9TNnc| title = Eyvind Earle {{!}} Disney Legends Ceremony {{!}} 2015 D23 Expo | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://eyvindearle.com}}
- {{peterphile}}
- [http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2854 Eyvind Earle – Peter and Wendy] (Little Golden Books illustrations)
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{{Disney Legends Awards 2010s}}
{{Winsor McCay Award 1990s}}
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Category:20th-century American illustrators
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American male painters
Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios people