Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Courvoisier "Gallery Series" of Snow White Cels

The "Disney Portrait Gallery Series" from the late 1990s is a unique set of 10 hand-inked, hand-painted limited edition framed reproduction cel images from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. They recreate the look of the very rare original animation production art that was released by Guthrie Courvoisier in 1938-39.

A total of 10 images make up this set including Snow White, the Queen, the Witch and all Seven Dwarfs. The Snow White image was released in 1997 followed by one new portrait every other month until the entire series was complete. Only those collectors who purchased the first 9 pieces had the option to purchase the last--the last being the Old Witch. This last portrait consisted of 350 limited editions compared to 750 produced for each of the other nine.

Seen below with this complete 1997 set are the actual Courvoisier production cels from 1938-39! These originals were used by the artists to recreate the reproductions.


Snow White...

1997 Repro (left), 1938 Original (right)


Repro Back


All framed back panels on the original production cels look the same.

_____________

Doc...





_____________

Happy...





_____________

Bashful...





_____________

Sleepy...





_____________

Sneezy...





_____________

Grumpy...





_____________

Dopey...





_____________

Queen...





_____________

Witch...





All cel images measure about 4" x 4.5". Approximate dimensions of framed reproduction cels are 9.5" square. Approximate size of museum framed and matted production cels is 10.75" square.

6 comments:

  1. The Snow White one is very cute!
    I'd love to have an original cell, but it's very expensive. The prodction drawings are cheaper, but it depends. The Snow white drawings are more expensive. If I find one not to expensive, I think I'll try to get it for my birthday

    ReplyDelete
  2. They are expensive but it would be quite a treasure to own a piece of history from the original film.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How weird; I was thinking that the originals looked better than the reproductions for most of the characters, but, as ever, the Queen/Witch proves an exception. The wood-and-wood consistent grains overpowers Snow White and the dwarves while the leather (?) and smooth background works better for them. The Queen and Witch both are strong enough to "pop" from the wood grain and look exaggeratedly cartoony in the original background.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have the artist's eye Sheryl. I totally agree.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here's an interesting (and iconic) piece of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs art about to go under the hammer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great find Brian. I sure wish my pockets didn't have so many holes in them :)

    ReplyDelete