The Genius of Chuck Jones
Saturday, November 20, 2021 - Saturday, August 20, 2022
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Chuck Jones (1912-2002) made more than 300 animated films, winning three Oscars as director and in 1996 an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Among the many awards and recognitions, one of those he most valued was his honorary life membership in the Directors Guild of America.
Jones helped bring to life many of Warner Bros.’ most famous characters—Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. The list of characters he created himself includes Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin Martian, Pepe le Pew, Michigan J. Frog, and many others. He also produced, directed, and wrote the screenplays for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, a television classic, as well as the feature-length film The Phantom Tollbooth. In addition, Jones was a prolific artist whose work has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide.
Jones grew up in Hollywood and graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1932 he got his first job in the fledgling animation industry as a cel washer for former Disney animator Ub Iwerks. In 1936 Jones was hired by Friz Freleng as an animator for the Leon Schlesinger Studio (later sold to Warner Bros.). He worked his way up from cel washer to assistant animator, animator, and finally, in 1938, to director.
In the period now seen as “the golden age of animation,” Jones, Freleng and the other master animators, writers and directors at Warner Bros. created a plethora of classic cartoons – including the famous Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series -- until the company closed its animation studio in 1962. Jones then moved to MGM, where he created new episodes of the Tom and Jerry cartoon series. While there, in addition to How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Phantom Toll Booth, Jones directed the Academy Award-winning film The Dot and the Line.
Jones established his own production company, Chuck Jones Enterprises, in 1970 and produced nine half-hour animated films for television, including Rikki Tikki Tavi and The White Seal, based on stories in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
One of his animated films, the Bugs Bunny-starring Wagnerian mini-epic "What's Opera, Doc?," was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992 for being "among the most culturally, historically and aesthetically significant films of our time." Since then, the Smithsonian's National Film Registry has also added Jones’ "Duck Amuck" and "One Froggy Evening" to its roster of the most important films of the 20th century.
In recent years, Jones' work has been honored at film festivals and museums throughout the world, including a one-man retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His autobiography, Chuck Amuck, was published in 1989, and its follow-up, Chuck Reducks: Drawing on the Fun Side of Life was published in 1996.
In 1999, Jones established the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, designed to recognize, support, and inspire continued excellence in art and the art of classic character animation. The Center, a nonprofit based in Costa Mesa, Calif., is dedicated to re-invigorating the creative spirit through art classes, exhibitions, lectures and film festivals, all of which spring from the material in the Chuck Jones archive.
Director Peter Bogdanovich once explained the enduring appeal of Jones' work: "It remains, like all good fables and only the best art, both timeless and universal."
Chuck Jones died at the age of 89 in February 2002, but he leaves a legacy of brilliance, comedy, joy, color and laughter that will live on forever.
(Biography source: Chuck Jones Center for Creativity)
Image:
Chuck Jones
"The Dream"
1984
Oil on canvas
The Hilbert Collection
Jones helped bring to life many of Warner Bros.’ most famous characters—Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. The list of characters he created himself includes Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin Martian, Pepe le Pew, Michigan J. Frog, and many others. He also produced, directed, and wrote the screenplays for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, a television classic, as well as the feature-length film The Phantom Tollbooth. In addition, Jones was a prolific artist whose work has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide.
Jones grew up in Hollywood and graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1932 he got his first job in the fledgling animation industry as a cel washer for former Disney animator Ub Iwerks. In 1936 Jones was hired by Friz Freleng as an animator for the Leon Schlesinger Studio (later sold to Warner Bros.). He worked his way up from cel washer to assistant animator, animator, and finally, in 1938, to director.
In the period now seen as “the golden age of animation,” Jones, Freleng and the other master animators, writers and directors at Warner Bros. created a plethora of classic cartoons – including the famous Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series -- until the company closed its animation studio in 1962. Jones then moved to MGM, where he created new episodes of the Tom and Jerry cartoon series. While there, in addition to How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Phantom Toll Booth, Jones directed the Academy Award-winning film The Dot and the Line.
Jones established his own production company, Chuck Jones Enterprises, in 1970 and produced nine half-hour animated films for television, including Rikki Tikki Tavi and The White Seal, based on stories in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
One of his animated films, the Bugs Bunny-starring Wagnerian mini-epic "What's Opera, Doc?," was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992 for being "among the most culturally, historically and aesthetically significant films of our time." Since then, the Smithsonian's National Film Registry has also added Jones’ "Duck Amuck" and "One Froggy Evening" to its roster of the most important films of the 20th century.
In recent years, Jones' work has been honored at film festivals and museums throughout the world, including a one-man retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His autobiography, Chuck Amuck, was published in 1989, and its follow-up, Chuck Reducks: Drawing on the Fun Side of Life was published in 1996.
In 1999, Jones established the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, designed to recognize, support, and inspire continued excellence in art and the art of classic character animation. The Center, a nonprofit based in Costa Mesa, Calif., is dedicated to re-invigorating the creative spirit through art classes, exhibitions, lectures and film festivals, all of which spring from the material in the Chuck Jones archive.
Director Peter Bogdanovich once explained the enduring appeal of Jones' work: "It remains, like all good fables and only the best art, both timeless and universal."
Chuck Jones died at the age of 89 in February 2002, but he leaves a legacy of brilliance, comedy, joy, color and laughter that will live on forever.
(Biography source: Chuck Jones Center for Creativity)
Image:
Chuck Jones
"The Dream"
1984
Oil on canvas
The Hilbert Collection