Friday, April 04, 2014

Art Market

For a number of years, East Center Street (just off of Main Street, across from the Flower Mart) featured the Art Market. Guests could have their portraits drawn, or they could buy unique Disneyland-inspired artwork. Main Street might have been the epitome of small-town USA, but the Art Market feels very Parisian to me. This first photo is from 1960.


I am always fascinated by the artwork that was for sale here;  who painted them? How many of them survive today? Maybe I'll find one in a thrift shop for $5. You can see images of Schweitzer Falls, Sleeping Beauty Castle, the entrance to Tomorrowland, the Columbia, and one that I think might be the Monorail (upper right). 


By 1963, the Art Market looked a little less busy, with everything pushed back to the far-end of the street. Still, it looks like at least three portraits were being drawn, and the original artwork was still on display. Notice the low construction wall just in front of the rear buildings, and what I think is a wooden stepladder to the extreme left.


6 comments:

Nancy said...

Interesting how even the position of the sun makes it look so different. The only thing I like about the second picture better than number 1 is the clear round lights (which I love) strung rather than the used-car lot flags. The first one is so pretty! :-)

Do we know what changes were going on behind the wall? This is the opposite side from the ice cream shoppe, correct?

Melissa said...

In the first picture, at far left, we see the mother of The Man in the Yellow Hat from the "Curious George" books on a working vacation to Disneyland, where she advised Walt on design improvements for Adventureland.

These are all beautiful, sunny shots; I feel all warm and relaxed just looking at them.

Dave Meek said...

I too wonder about the paintings for sale there. Who did them? Where are they now? Most likely they were painted by lower tier background artists from the studio, probably for an hourly wage or flat fee. But who knows? Maybe there's a John Hench original in there too, now gathering dust in somebodies attic.

K. Martinez said...

Major - the picture in the upper right looks like the monorail to me too.

I wonder if these were original paintings or LE prints. Disneyland does have the Disney Gallery and Disneyana type shops that sell this kind of stuff.

I would've loved to have the Schweitzer Falls and Colubmia paintings shown in the blow up image.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nancy, even after you mentioned the string of lights, I had to really look for them. Good eye! I think that the area behind the wall is technically "back stage".

Melissa, maybe the Man in the Yellow Hat was a little boy just out of frame. He was wearing a yellow Keppy Kap.

Dave Meek, I doubt they were done by background artists. I wish I knew the story behind them though! They look like they were painted from photos, in oils; perhaps they had four or five painters who could really crank out finished paintings. Maybe they had 15 or 20 different photos to paint from. "We need two more castles, Bill. Can you get them done by tonight?".

K. Martinez, unless these were offset lithos (basically posters), I doubt that these were limited edition works. They look like real paintings to me.

Connie Moreno said...

Wait!!! When was the little ice cream shop added? Could that be what's going on behind the walls? I kept staring at these pics and marveling at what has remained the same and what has changed. I love that archway in what is not the Market House. (Right?)