Unicorn

Datec.1940

MediumCast plaster with wood base

Dimensionswith base: 8 3/4 x 8 x 6 in. (22.2 x 20.3 x 15.2 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGiven in memory of Jeanne Cagney

Object number2022.208

DescriptionAnimation maquettes from the early Disney features are very rare survivors. These little plaster models were created during production of a movie to help the Disney animators visualize a character from every angle, so their drawings could be more accurate. How much of the eye can be seen, for example, when the figure is at a certain angle? What does the side of the mouth look like from another angle?

This little unicorn, fabricated to aid the artists working on the “Pastoral Symphony” segment of Fantasia, was placed on a metal rod so it could be easily turned around. It probably would have been placed on the animator’s desk so it could be seen and gently turned, or perhaps on a shelf where a team of artists could refer to it.

Maquettes are still created as reference figures for the teams working on animated movies. Today they are mostly made of polyurethane, but during the era of Fantasia, they were made of cast plaster and hand-painted.

At the time Fantasia was in production, Joe Grant was in charge of Disney’s Character Animation Department, which created the maquettes. Although these figures were key parts of the filmmaking process, they were also works of art in their own right, often sculpted by one or more of the studio’s artists. This figure may have been painted by Helen Nerbovig McIntosh, lead of the maquette painting team in the Disney Ink and Paint Department, who also served as head of Disney’s Courvoisier Art (cel set-up) program.

These models “escaped” from the studio in various ways. Animators sometimes took them home after a feature was completed. Some were given out as gifts to VIPs and studio visitors – sometimes by Walt Disney himself. This unicorn maquette was given to actress Jeanne Cagney (sister of actor James Cagney) by her friend, Disney artist Art Babbitt, one of the principal animators of Fantasia.

Mary Platt, Museum Director

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