Personal Art

Mary Blair is most associated with her Disney art and accomplishments (namely Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and It's a Small World). However, it is her personal art that she did for family, friends, and special occasions that we would like to, now, also share with the world -- projects done for fun, fancy and pure pleasure -- Mary Blair without limits!! We hope you enjoy this unique collection of art as we have all our lives. It is our fondest wish that people everywhere will see in Mary's art what Walt Disney saw over seventy-five years ago.

For image reproduction & licensing requests, please contact Artists Rights Society (ARS):

Artists Rights Society
65 Bleecker St, 12th FL
New York, NY 10026
212.420.9160
www.arsny.com

Ballet Lesson

SIZE: 16" w x 12" h
MEDIUM: Gouache and Acrylic on board
This charming painting from the early 70’s reminds us of that carefree period of innocence and grace known as childhood --- a favorite subject of Mary’s.

Purple Madonna 

SIZE: 8" w x 15" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on paper
Mary painted several Madonnas in her lifetime, especially at Christmastime. This bold and brilliant piece was painted in the mid-sixties – a “mod” Madonna surrounded by lambs and angels of shocking pink – Mary’s favorite color.

Girl and Cats 

SIZE: 14" w x 12" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on paper
An elegant and graceful Mary Blair composition from the late 60’s or early 70’s. Mary was fond of cats (and dogs) but her usual cats were the fluffy striped variety like her own over-sized orange cat “Ferrari”. These cats are a more sophisticated type – with wonderful design quality.

Ice Cream Girl

SIZE: 11.5" w x 14.5" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on paper
A family favorite; this work was painted in the early 70’s by Mary for “no particular reason” (some of Mary’s most whimsical self-directed art comes from this period). It hung near her kitchen for all to enjoy when visiting the Blair home. So, whether you prefer chocolate or vanilla, you can have both with the Ice Cream Girl.

The Gambler 

SIZE: 16" w x 12" h
MEDIUM: Gouache and Acrylic on board
An intensely colorful swirl of activity centering around Mary’s brother-in-law Frank Richardson’s favorite sport, --armchair betting – on football (his favorite team was Alabama), horse racing and home poker games. Mary joined in on many of these “strictly-for-fun” activities enjoying family poker games and occasional trips to Bay Meadows Race Track in San Francisco. This piece was done in 1977, the year before Mary’s death, and presented to Frank on his 80th birthday.

Bandstand

SIZE: 14" w x 9.5" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on board
This lively painting was originally created for Coronet Magazine in 1947. It exemplifies traditional “family values” and “Americana” in the unmistakable Mary Blair style.

Juice Girl
(AKA "Lemonade Girl" in Japan)

SIZE: 10.5" w x 14.5" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on paper
This charming little character became the mascot of the immensely popular exhibition The Colors of Mary Blair, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (July 24 – Oct. 4, 2009). Like the “Ice Cream Girl”, this piece was created in the early 70’s in true Mary Blair fashion, out of pure imagination.

Poker Bears 

SIZE: 18" w x 12" h
MEDIUM: Gouache/Collage on Board  
This unique work from the late 1960’s was created especially to hang in the Blair dining room where family holiday gatherings would usually include a game of poker after dinner (a little-known Mary Blair passion). Mary’s husband, Lee, photographed an actual deck of cards which Mary cut out and pasted onto the artwork ….with her signature Mary Blair “flair”.

San Francisco Night

SIZE: 13.5" w x 19.5" h
MEDIUM: Watercolor on paper  
Done in the early 1930’s, shortly after Mary and Lee were married and lived briefly in San Francisco. Mary had just graduated from Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles and her “explosion of color” style had not yet emerged.

Triple Elephants

SIZE: 17" w x 11" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on Art Board  
This colorful piece was painted around the same time as the Triple Giraffes and was displayed in the home of Mary and Lee until their deaths. Mary painted windmill shaped flowers on the surrounding mat board and topped it off with a hand painted wooden frame – in “pink”, of course.

Triple Giraffes

SIZE: 9" w x 15" h
MEDIUM: Gouache on Art Board
This delightful painting was created in the early 60’s by Mary for her sister Peggy and brother-in-law Frank, to accent the color scheme of yellow and orange in the Richardson’s new home. Mary’s paintbrush extended onto the surrounding mat board with a textured design and ended with a coat of bright orange paint on the bamboo wood frame. Very Mary.

Abstract Heads

SIZE: 14" w x 10" h
MEDIUM: Gouache
A very unusual Mary Blair “Picasso-like” study of male faces. There is an unmistakable cinematic quality and a deep dimensional feel to this very striking painting from the early 60’s.

Hat Women

SIZE: 18" w x 14" h
MEDIUM: Gouache
A geometric, stylized cluster of 6 women wearing varieties of their native Peruvian hats – Painted in vibrant Mary Blair “hot salsa” colors.

Beach Party

SIZE: 24" w x 20" h
MEDIUM: Watercolor  
A beautiful example of one of Mary Blair’s rare watercolors. It captures a scene on the Santa Monica beach in the early 1940’s – just as the storm clouds are gathering.

Children's Chorus

SIZE: 14" w x 18" h
MEDIUM: Gouache  
This endearing work of trademark Mary Blair children was painted by Mary during the 1970’s, to hang in the Blair home in Soquel, California. She painted it on the reverse side of a piece of masonite board, giving the painting a woven, textured look of burlap. Uniquely Mary Blair.

Church Wedding – White

SIZE: 20" w x 14" h
MEDIUM: Gouache  
This romantic depiction of a country wedding was done for a Coronet magazine cover in the mid-1950s.
More Personal Art