DALLAS, TEXAS.- A special Heritage record was broken over the weekend and into Monday as The Art of All Things Disney Animation Art Signature® Auction pulled in more than $3.4 million and led to the highest annual auction results for animation art: $12 million for 2022. Leading the charge were works by Disney artists of its golden age, such as Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, and Carl Barks, though the event extended well beyond such beloved territory.

The Art of All Things Disney spanned four days, Dec. 9-12, and 2,000 works from the studio’s most significant feature films, including the largest collection ever of animation art from Disney’s renaissance – its feature animation films released between 1989 to 1999. Many of the renaissance works came from the Peter Schneider Collection which encompassed every aspect of the movie-making process: production cels and drawings, storyboard and original concept art, Key Master backgrounds, artists' proofs, 3D maquettes and more. One record set by a work in this collection is the highest result for a Little Mermaid production drawing, at $6,600, by Disney legend Glen Keane.

"Mr. Schneider was the President of Disney Feature Animation from 1986 to 1999,” says Jim Lentz, Heritage's Director of Animation Art. The collection and other renaissance-era works in the event included some of the most memorable and beloved images from cinema which sold for well above estimates: Ariel marveling at her new human legs in a The Little Mermaid production cel ($16,800); The Lion King’s opening sequence original storyboards by Thom Enriquez and Lorna Cook ($18,000); Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s Jessica and Greasy in a 1988 production cel ($19,200); and a production maquette of Hades from Hercules ($8700). This was the tip of the iceberg with this mind-boggling collection.

"We are proud to be the first major auction house anywhere to salute these groundbreaking and magnificent animated films and their outstanding artwork," says Lentz.




Another centerpiece in the December Animation Art event was the largest collection of original production art from the first animated Christmas special, 1962’s Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

"Mister Magoo was the start of everything when it comes to Christmas specials," says Darrell Van Citters, whose Magoo Christmas collection came to Heritage. Van Citters, an acclaimed animator (and the man behind the famous and somber drawing of Looney Tunes/Warner Bros.' tribute to Mel Blanc known as "Speechless") took an interest in this influential classic when he realized no one else was taking custodianship of the special's legacy. "It preceded Charlie Brown, it preceded Rudolph and Grinch," he says of the special whose visual flair still influences the world’s top animators. "This was when television was ‘appointment' viewing. When it came out, I don't know if [the studio] even considered that it could be broadcast every year."

Top lots in this category included a production cel setup of Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge ($5,880); the opening credits original 48" production pan background ($4,560); and a Mr. Magoo as Scrooge pan production cel setup with Key Master pan background layout drawing ($4,560).

Given that this event covered four days and thousands of lots, it's not surprising that Disney's renaissance was not the only Disney era represented in an auction titled “The Art of All Things Disney." Disney of course kicked off its domination of animation art with its golden age: The breathtaking hand-drawn art and animation of Cinderella, Pinocchio, Snow White, Dumbo, Bambi… . In this event Heritage offered a remarkable array of animation art by Disney's original VIPs of the form.

Eight of the auction’s top lots in the auction came from this stable of greats. Leading the auction was a 1953 original concept painting from Peter Pan by Mary Blair ($33,600); tied with that was Disney comic artist Carl Barks’ original art for Scrooge McDuck, followed by a Mary Blair Alice in Wonderland concept/color key painting for $32,400, followed by a Blair Peter Pan concept pan painting ($31,200) and two Blair Alice in Wonderland works at $28,800 and $26,400. Disney background maestro Eyvind Earle sneaks into the top ten of the auction with his 1959 Sleeping Beauty forest and castle concept/color key painting at $26,400, and Blair sneaks back in at number seven with her charming 1964 arctic concept painting for Disneyland’s "It's a Small World" for $26,400.

These are slices of history bursting with charisma and lyrical beauty unmatched by any other studio that new collectors hold in their own hands.