Mary Blair

Mary Blair (born Mary Robinson) was an American visual development artist, best remembered today for work done for The Walt Disney Company. She was also the wife of another Disney artist, Lee Blair.

Blair produced concept art for many of Disney's post-war releases, such as Alice in Wonderland, The Three Caballeros, Peter Pan, Song of the South, and Cinderella. She also worked briefly on art for Dumbo, an early version of Lady and the Tramp, and a second version of Fantasia titled "Baby Ballet", which was not released until the late 1990s.

Her style also lives on through the designs for the Disney attraction It's a Small World, to which the attraction is primarily modeled after her art style. Her work at Disney Parks can also be seen on an enormous mosaic inside Disney's Contemporary Resort. In 1967, Blair created mural art for the Tomorrowland Promenade. Two similar tile murals flanked the entrance corridor. The mural over Adventure Thru Inner Space was covered over in 1987 with the opening of Star Tours, while the other remained in place until 1998 when the Circle-Vision 360° was replaced by Rocket Rods and a new mural was designed to reflect the new theme.

Outside of Disney, she also illustrated several Little Golden Books for publisher Simon & Schuster and designed Christmas and Easter sets for Radio City Music Hall. She also worked as a designer for Bonwit Teller and created theatrical sets. Blair would also go on to make sets of Walt Disney note cards for Hallmark, and, in 1968, she was credited as color designer on the film How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

Filmography[]

Year	Film	Position
1940	Fantasia	Preliminary artwork (uncredited)
1941	Dumbo	Preliminary artwork (uncredited)
1942	South of the Border with Disney	Herself
1942	Saludos Amigos	Art Supervision "Donald Duck Visits Lake Titicaca" color and styling Herself (uncredited)
1942	Arabian Nights	Artist: credits sequence
1944	The Three Caballeros	Art Supervisor
1945	Cleanliness Brings Health	Color and styling
1946	Make Mine Music	Color and styling Art Supervisor
1946	Song of the South	Background and color stylist Storyboard artist (uncredited)
1948	Melody Time	Color and styling "Once Upon a Wintertime" - Story
1948	So Dear to My Heart	Cartoon art treatment
1949	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	Color and styling
1950	Cinderella	Color and styling
1951	Alice in Wonderland	Color and styling
1952	Susie the Little Blue Coupe	Color and styling (uncredited)
1952	The Little House	Color and styling (uncredited)
1953	Peter Pan	Color and styling
1953	Rugged Bear	Color and styling (uncredited)
1955	Lady and the Tramp	Preliminary artwork (uncredited)
1958-1965	The Magical World of Disney	Story: "Magic and Music" Herself: "Disneyland 10th Anniversary" "Disneyland: From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow"

Legacy[]

Blair was posthumously honored as a Disney Legend in 1991, one of the first women to be given the honor. The Mickey Mouse episodes "Yodelberg" and "O Sole Minnie" are patterned after Blair's distinctive art style.
In most versions of It's a Small World, there is a visual tribute representation of her. She is rendered as a little girl doll halfway up the Eiffel Tower, holding a balloon.
In 2014, The Walt Disney Family Museum hosted the comprehensive exhibition: MAGIC, COLOR, FLAIR: the world of Mary Blair.^[1]