Pocket Full of Colors: The magical world of Mary Blair, Disney artist extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville

Disney artist, Mary Blair was born Mary Browne Robinson in 1911 in McAlester, Oklahoma. Her family was quite poor and so they moved frequently, from Oklahoma to Texas, and then finally settled in California in 1918. Mary attended Live Oak Union High School graduating in 1929. She then went on to study Fine Arts at San Jose State College.

In 1931 Mary won a scholarship to the Chouinard School of Art located in Los Angeles. There she studied under the direction of American illustrator, Pruett Carter. She also met her future husband, Lee Blair at Chouinard. They married in March of 1934.

Because of the Great Depression both Mary and Lee had to work as commercial artists to support themselves. However Mary Blair did have art shows featuring her watercolours at several galleries in Los Angeles by 1938. These paintings featured darker, earthy colours but had an overall soft, muted quality. A good example of her style is the watercolour, Laundry Day which was painted in 1938. However her relationship with Walt Disney was to have a major impact on her life and her art.

In 1938 Lee was hired on by Disney Studios and worked on the animated films Pinocchio and Fantasia.  In 1940, Mary was hired to replace Lee in 1940. The Blairs were invited to accompany Walt Disney and his wife Lillian on a tour of South America in 1941. There Mary was exposed to the vibrant colours of the Latino culture and landscape which she began to incorporate into her own artwork. Her style changed to one that was described as "wild" and "electic".

Brigette Barrager's vibrant artwork from Pocket Full of Colors.

During World War II, Lee enlisted and was stationed on the east coast while Mary continued to work for Disney where she was assigned to oversee the art for several animated films including Three Caballeros. Throughout the late forties and into the early 1950's, Mary was the colour stylist for many Disney productions including The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan.

Although Lee had left Disney much earlier and Mary eventually left in 1953, her years with Disney contributed significantly to her art career. She worked as a freelance artist but also continued to work with Disney on various projects including murals and commercial projects.

Guglielmo and Tourville's exquisite picture book is the perfect vehicle to tell the story of Mary Blair. The authors' text is accompanied by Brigette Barrager's vibrant digital artwork portraying Mary Blair's artistic development into one of the world's most accomplished animators and illustrators of the 20th century. Interestingly Barrager has worked for Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. It is really Barrager's beautiful illustrations which make this picture book simply grand and help to bring to life the story of Mary Blair. You can view more of Barrager's artwork at her website.

Many young readers will have seen the Disney versions of Cinderella, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland but may not have realized they were actually watching the artwork of Mary Blair. Although Pocket Full of Colors doesn't contain any of Mary Blair's actual artwork, the authors have included an Author's Note at the back with a photograph of the Blairs. This picture book is a great addition to a home/school or public library collection.

Book Details:

Pocket Full of Colors: The magical world of Mary Blair, Disney artist extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville         
New York: Atheneum Books For Young Readers        2017