Geppetto's Cuckoo Clocks from Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1938)

"Uh-oh! I wonder what time it is... It's getting late." Presented is an astonishingly rare treasure, a beautiful original model sheet featuring the many inventive cuckoo clocks of Geppetto's workshop, created for Joe Grant's character model department at the Walt Disney Studio by Albert Hurter (1883-1942). Created for the sequence seen at the 9:33 mark of the film, these richly detailed drawings are rendered in graphite and color pencil on a large sheet of studio bond paper. Model sheets like these were photographed and distributed to animators for reference during production, and original model sheet artworks are exceptionally rare treasures. This piece is composed of some cut and pasted elements, and it is presented in a 22" x 19.5" mat with a mat window size of 14.75" x 12.5". It bears a character model department stamp with Joe Grant's hand-written approval initials, numbered M56-B and dated 8/8/1938. Bob Jones did the hand lettering. - "Albert (the old man) was 48 years old when he joined the Disney staff whom were mainly in their 20's. There he became the Disney Studios first inspirational sketch artist and became the Studios authority on how things should look --- from characters and costumes to settings and scenery. Hurter's finest contribution was the warmth and charm he wove into the props in Geppetto's workshop: toys, dolls, smoking pipes, vases, puppets, MECHANICAL CLOCKS, and music boxes."-John Canemaker