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Eyvind Earle Background Painting for Sleeping Beauty, 1959

Artists: Eyvind Earle (All) , Walt Disney Studio (All)

5 Comments - 7,150 Views - 1 Like

Eyvind Earle Background Painting for Sleeping Beauty, 1959 Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Eyvind Earle Background Painting for Sleeping Beauty, 1959
Artist:	Eyvind Earle (All)
Artist:	Walt Disney Studio (All)
Media Type:	Mixed Media
Art Type:	Animation
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	7,150
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	5
Added to Site:	8/14/2006
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Unlike so many pieces of animation art that are said to be by Eyvind Earle, I'm fairly certain that this background panting is his own work.

The Story of Disney Background Paintings, Pt. 6, Cont.

I later ended up buying two more cel and matching background set ups which had been in the European Art of Animation exhibit. One was a cottage interior with a full, pan cel of Meryweather, the blue fairy, dancing and directing the movements of an enchanted broom and water bucket. The artwork had some fairly minor water damage at the bottom, along with warpage of the cel, so I sold it a few years later. The other was a matching set up of Maleficent as the dragon with an exterior castle background. I hated to sell it, but I did in order to buy a very expensive comic strip original.

The Story of Disney Background Paintings, Pt. 7.

I still own another one of the best Sleeping Beauty backgrounds that I have ever seen (the one pictured here) and which was the subject of one of my all-time worst collecting experiences. It all started one day when I was at my friend, Howard Lowery's animation art gallery. He opened a drawer and pulled out some art which had just been consigned for sale in his next auction. When I saw a Sleeping Beauty background, which shows many of the gifts that had been given to the Princess Aurora at her birthday celebration, I knew that I had to have it. It was similar, but infinitely superior, to one of the print backgrounds which accompanied many Sleeping Beauty cels marketed through the Disneyland Art Corner store. When I next talked to my animation dealer friend from the San Fernando Valley, I asked that he not bid against me when the piece was auctioned, since I intended to buy it no matter what. Sure, that was a little presumptious of me, but I had been one of his best customers for over a decade, and it wasn't as if I had made such a request before. Anyway, I strongly believe that one of the most foolish things a dealer, or even a dealer-collector, can do is to openly bid at auction against one of their customers.

Weeks passed, and I saw my dealer friend at the San Diego Con the Saturday before Howard's auction the following day. I reminded him that he shouldn't bid against me on the background. But, when I was bidding on it the next day, something incredible happened. When the bidding on the bakground was about where it should have ended, my bid for $13,000, my so-called friend shouted out a bid of $30,000 -- a jump of almost unheard of magnitude. As everyone in the room was gasping and chattering and while Howard was verifying what he had heard, I went right on and raised my paddle for the next bid, $30,200. At the next break, I went to the dealer and asked him what the %&@# was he thinking, since he had just cost me abut $17,000 extra on a piece he knew I was going to pursue until I won the bidding. He said that he wasn't sure I would actually bid whatever it took, and he had sold a Carl Barks preliminary oil painting for $35,000 on the last day of San Diego, so he had enough money to buy the Sleeping Beauty. Of course he had never before paid anything near what he bid against me for a piece of animation art, yet he attempted to deny me the the piece he had agreed to stay away from. He later claimed that, as I walked away from his table at San Diego, he had shouted out that he would not bid on the piece I wanted but I had to refrain from bidding on the Peter Pan cel and background that came up first in the auction. That scenario simply had not happened, and, of course, I had bought the Peter Pan Art Props set-up, providing the basis for his excuse for $@#&%$# me on the Sleeping Beauty.

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About the Owner

	C E
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	August 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	C's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Pierre Lambert
Member Since 2008

Posted on 11/5/2012

A TRUE MASTERPIECE !

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

Posted on 7/18/2021

The valuable lesson which you learned getting this lovely artwork is dealers are not your friends. They are dealers first. Friendship means nothing to them. The other lesson learned was not to let people know you really want something as some will empty your wallet or collection ( happened to me several times ), while dangling the item you want in front of you. Lol.

C E
Member Since 2006

Posted on 7/20/2021

Peter Sullivan wrote:

What you say is generally true, but when you are dealing with someone with whom you have spoken almost daily for a decade and with whom you have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, you really wouldn't expect to betray your trust. I have a few other friends who are dealers who I would trust with my life, but the dealer who bid me up on this piece is obviously no longer among that small group.

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

Posted on 7/20/2021

C E wrote:

What you say is generally true, but when you are dealing with someone with whom you have spoken almost daily for a decade and with whom you have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, you really wouldn't expect to betray your trust. �I have a few other friends who are dealers who I would trust with my life, but the dealer who bid me up on this piece is obviously no longer among that small group.

Thanks for responding in such a considered manner. Thankfully nothing that extreme has happened to me. One person who I considered a great friend and who visited my home did something despicable by offering me a fraction of what something was worth when he knew I was in financial difficulty at the time. He thought desperation would make me accept it. Sadly, some people are not friends. They merely pretend to be. It is counterproductive for a dealer though. One ripped me off for a few thousand dollars and never sent anything or gave me a refund. I will never buy anything off him again. He lost out on a lot of sales he could have got from me. Your collection is incredible by the way.

C E
Member Since 2006

Posted on 7/22/2021

Peter Sullivan wrote:

I know exactly what you mean. When some money that I was expecting didn't come through in time and it was the last day to pay taxes, I went over to the same dealer who bid me up on the background to sell a few pieces of animation art to him, including some pieces he had originally sold to me. He offered me a fraction of what I had paid him. Live and learn. As I recall, that was the last day I had anything to do with that "friend," and that was almost 30 years ago. Thanks for your kind words; I'm glad that at least some people on CAF look at and appreciate animation art.

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