Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Most Americans have grown up watching and loving cartoons. Needless to say, I am one of them, so you can only imagine my joy when I discovered that I could actually have a “real” Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse painting or cel, as they are known, to decorate my walls. Animation art can sell anywhere between $5.00 upwards into the tens of thousands. So what makes one piece more valuable than others?
There are five major factors that impact the value of animation art. They are:
The Studio
The movie or cartoon
Character and position
Scene
Type of animation art
The Studio:
The animation studio is considered the artist not the individual animators. It is important when making comparisons that similar studios are used according to the reputation, style of animation and the general output of successful cartoons that were created.
Disney is the big name in animation with Warner Bros a close second followed by such companies as Hanna Barbera, and DePatie Freleng. Most of these studios have made innovations in the style, technique and advancement of animation. They have decades of creating successful animation films, iconic characters and television cartoons. Very few studios can compare to these giants.
Movie or Cartoon, time period:
The popularity of the cartoon and the time period that it was created in also affects the value consideration. The time from when Disney started through the 1940′s is considered their Golden years, and the Vintage years are from the 1950′s to 1967.
Character and position:
Just like the leading lady and man earn the most, the major characters in cartoons are the most sought after and are more valuable than secondary characters.
While walking through the galleries of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art I wondered what the Mad Potter of Biloxi would think of the Frank Ghery museum designed in his honor. Taking into consideration the potter’s designs (at the time of their creation considered to be, for lack of a better work, radical) I can’t help but think he would love the odd shapes and angular lines of the buildings. Georg Ohr, to say the least, was an artist and potter ahead of his time. Born in Biloxi in 1857 Ohr began to learn his art in 1879 as an apprentice to Joseph Fortune Meyer in New Orleans. After learning what he could, he travelled the United States to lean even more. “I pulled out of New Orleans and took a zigzag trip for two years and got as far as Dubuque…,” Ohr stated.
He settled back in Biloxi in 1883, opening his first potter studio and became a staple in the Biloxi community. Although he made his living by making utilitarian ware for the people of Biloxi, his heart and his passion lay in the off-beat designs that showed his inner-self. His most notable pieces were created between 1895 and 1903, following the destruction of his first studio in a fire that devastated Biloxi. During this time “the hallmark of his art pottery was the combination of vibrant glaze colors with distinctive forms that often exaggerated the traditional styles of the day.” His works were more often praised for their colors than their design. His critics bemoaned the art pottery as being “deliberately distorted” and showing a lack “of good proportion, of grace, and of dignity.”
Tired of the criticism and lack of recognition, Ohr closed his studio in 1910. But with a sense of foreshadowing he is quoted as saying “…when I’m gone…my work will be prized, honored and cherished. It will come.”