Mary Blair is most well known for her work on the famous "It's a small world" attraction that debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Mary attended Chouinard Art Institute in California on a scholarship, where she truly began to master her watercolor and color styling skills and met her husband Lee Blair. Post graduation, her talent soared to new heights where she became known for the unique color style of her designs and ultimately earning the attention of both the art community and animation studios. She began her animation career at Metro-Goyldyn-Mayer. She also welcomed to the California Watercolor Society. She would later gain the attention of Walt Disney through her impressive watercolor designs. Walt Disney would later say that Mary "knew about colors I had never heard of before."
She began her career at the Disney Company in 1940 as an art supervisor and color stylist and would become one of Walt Disney's favorite artists. She painted concept art that would inspire the animators for their final films. She has painted projects relating to Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and The Lady and The Tramp (1955). For Dumbo, she sketched the tragic circus prison scene which would latter tug at the heart strings of so many generations.
The most influential time period of her career was in 1941 when along side her husband (Lee Blair) fellow artist at the company and various other artist went on a South American "Good Will" tour, which was funded by the Franklin Roosevelt Administration. The trip's documentary Walt & El Grupo The Untold Adventure" is a must watch on Disney+, I highly recommend the film to all levels of Disney lovers as it is a behind the scenes of the adventure that was put together in an effort to fight Nazism and Fascism in the Americas. This particular adventure would change the way Mary Blair would paint for the remainder of her career. This is the point when she transformed her paintings into the well-known "Mary Blair Style" she is known for today. Previously she mostly painted with "Earthy Realism" which is on the opposite side of the spectrum from what we know of her most famous accomplishments. She created such vivid concept art inspired by her trip in South America and the South American culture that Walt Disney would favor her art for the rest of his life. The concept around would later be used for the films inspired by the trip Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944) where Disney has made her the Art Supervisor for the projects.
The concept art that Mary produced influenced so many of our most beloved classic Disney films of the 1940s and 1950s. It was her unique style that influenced Walt Disney to assign her to many of the feature films including, Song of the South (1948), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), Cinderella (1950), Alice In Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). She left the Disney Company in 1953 to raise her family and focus on illustrating Little Golden Book children's book series. Her most popular illustrations is still in print today I Can Fly from 1950. Walt Disney felt her absence during this time as she move from California to New York with her husband Lee. He made several offers in an attempt to bring her back to the company with little avail until 1960s. While getting ready for the 1964 New York World's Fair, Walt Disney approached Mary Blair for her assistance on an boat ride attraction for the United Nations Children's Dun pavilion.
She returned to the the Disney Company in 1963 to work on what would later become "It's a Small World." This would become her final major project with the company. Mary along side several imagineers were able to showcase an attraction that held an international message of world peace. The attraction was so popular with over 10 million ticket sales at the World's Fair that it made a cross-country move (for the second time) to Disneyland where it still stands today.
Over the years Mary had contributed to the design of so many exhibits, attractions and murals for theme parks in both California and Florida. This includes the mural in the Grand Canyon Concourse at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort Hotel.
Mary had overcome so much in her career as an artist in a "man's world". She is a true testament to the power of women with a dream who will do anything to see that dream come true. It could be said that her determination to push her style of abstract art and color led to the modernization of Walt Disney Studio's art and style. The worlds that she created through her artwork allowed children to believe in the magic all the while bringing modern art to the big screen.
Sadly, Mary passed away on July 26, 1978, in Soquel, California. Posthumously, Mary was honored for her effect on the art of animation and inducted into the Disney Legends hall of fame. She was a true pioneer and inspiration to so many female artists. Her legacy carries on through her work, which is true look into her very soul.
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