Heritage Auctions to offer the original artwork for Fleischer Studios' 1940s 'Superman' cartoons

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Heritage Auctions to offer the original artwork for Fleischer Studios' 1940s 'Superman' cartoons
Superman Color Model Drawing (Max Fleischer, c. 1941).



DALLAS, TX.- The first Superman cartoon hit the big screens on Sept. 26, 1941. And nearly 80 years later, that 10-minute short, known today as "The Mad Scientist," still looks like it was made the day after tomorrow.

The bright big-screen wonder, created by animation pioneers Max and Dave Fleischer and voiced by some of the stars of the Mutual Network radio series, wasn't just groundbreaking but earthshaking. The series did far more than merely introduce audiences to the immortal phrase, "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" For the first time, a costumed hero leaped off the page and onto the screen — and in the process somehow looked as human as anyone in the audience.

This was kid stuff made for the grown-ups. Art Deco by way of Action Comics. The artistry of Citizen Kane dressed up in blue tights and a red cape.

"The oblique camera angles, the extended shadows, the chiaroscuro lighting, the diagonal lines, even the freeze frame of the scientist turning into the front-page picture in the Daily Planet — all seem right out of [Orson] Welles' masterpiece," Philip Skerry and Chris Lambert wrote in the book Superman at Fifty! "The technicolor hues are also gorgeous, retaining even today the vividness of the original dyes while other less stable coloring processes … are fading away on the original negative."

In all there were 17 Man of Steel cartoons released between the fall of 1941 and the summer of '43, nine with the Fleischers at the helm before the brothers went their separate ways and Paramount Pictures took control. And from that relatively small output of genius, whose influence spans every single superhero blockbuster and cartoon and comic that followed to this day, only a few key moments have survived.

The production cels from the shorts — each of which cost $30,000 to produce — were thought vanished. The hand-rendered graphite-made production drawings were surely lost somewhere between buyouts, break-ups and bankruptcies. And there was no reason at all to believe the sketched models of Superman and Lois Lane would ever been seen again.

Yet here they are, compiled by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions for the Dec. 11-13 Animation Art event. More than 50 original pieces from the Fleischer's run on Superman, amassed from two separate collections never before available to the public, create the largest assemblage ever to come to auction.

Jim Lentz, Heritage's Director Animation Art, says the 28 total lots being offered in December constitute "almost everything that exists" from the Superman cartoons. Perhaps, he says, this is as much as 80-85% of all the surviving artwork – enough to whet the appetites of animation scholars and collectors alike.




"To have a collection like this is a once-in-a-lifetime event," says cataloger David Tosh, Heritage's in-house expert on the Fleischers' work. "When I first saw it, I thought I must be dreaming. This material just doesn't show up. In 17 years at Heritage I've seen a few pieces, but nothing this gorgeous. It's mind-blowing to me."

Here, rather unbelievably, collectors will find the color model for Superman himself, whose stands with hands on hips while animators color-code each piece of the costume rendered in graphite. Below, Dave Fleischer's signature provides the animators with the OK to proceed. There's also a color model for Lois Lane as well, even more detailed than that of the Man of Steel.

Also included is the model sheet for Superman's head and face — the square jaw, of course, topped with the spit curl — dated August 1941. Its five views of Superman serve as a quintessential piece from the Fleischer Studios, as does the model sheet for Lois known as the "Head and Mouth Action Chart," which features 26 looks at the Daily Planet's star reporter in various poses.

Another model sheet featuring Lois in various poses (flying, even!), alongside Clark Kent and a rough sketch of Superman, is just as indispensable.

The animation event also features several production cel setups with the key master backgrounds – including an extraordinary piece from "The Mad Scientist" in which Superman carries Lois to safety before the scientist's lair blows to bits. From the same episode comes a production cel showcasing the Man of Steel staring down the scientist's destructive "electrothanasia" ray aimed at Metropolis.

There's another production cel, as well, from the second Superman short, November 1941's "The Mechanical Monsters," showing the hero demolishing the titular villains.

The event features drawings of a swaying Daily Planet under attack in "The Mad Scientist"; Krypton's destruction from the first episode's introduction; Lois, Clark and Perry White huddled around the Daily Planet editor's desk; Superman repelling the death ray; and a detailed flyover look at the bright lights of Metropolis.

There are also several drawings from "Terror on the Midway" released in August 1942 — and, sadly, the final of the nine Superman cartoons produced under the auspices of Fleischer Studios before the brothers parted company and Paramount rebranded their production company Famous Studios. There is but one piece from the final batch of cartoons: a drawing of an airplane from September 1942's "Japoteurs," when the studio turned Superman's attention from sci-fi villainy to real-world headlines.

Heritage's Animation Art event features artwork from other Fleischer projects, as well, including sketches from 1939's deeply influential Gulliver's Travels; cels and sketches and sculptures and other highly coveted ephemera from 1941's Mr. Bug Goes to Town, and rough drafts from the brothers' work on Popeye and Betty Boop.

"But the Superman collection serves as a historical document on the making of one of animation's greatest series," Lentz says. "It continues to mean so much to so many. It was a gateway to everything from the George Reeves TV series to the Christopher Reeve movies to the more recent Batman and Superman animated series to The Dark Knight Returns. And it's likely we'll never see a collection such as this one ever again."










Today's News

November 18, 2020

School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University hosts 38th Annual Curated Art Sale on Bidsquare

Bruno Barbey, Magnum photographer of war and peace, dies at 79

Christie's announces highlights included in Classic Week's ten sales

Three arrested over spectacular Dresden museum jewellery heist

Matthew Marks exhibits fourteen works on paper and two sculptures by Anne Truitt

Exhibition explores the way in which Anni Albers's trips to Mexico influenced her work

Sotheby's announces December cross-category marquee evening sale

Robert Frank: Books and Films published by Steidl

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum opens Genesis Belanger's first major solo museum exhibition

Churchill whisky painting fetches almost £1 mln

Jack Shainman Gallery presents an exhibition of works by Nina Chanel Abney

VMFA acquires Nari Ward's Xquisite LiquorsouL for its contemporary art collection

Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, long-tenured Director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, dies at the age of 79

Dallas Museum of Art mourns the death of philanthropist Edith O'Donnell

Exhibition at Skoto Gallery brings together the works of thirteen artists

Liu Shiyuan's first solo exhibition in Los Angeles opens at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Rob Mazurek's intergalactic jazz aims for a new dimension

Heritage Auctions to offer the original artwork for Fleischer Studios' 1940s 'Superman' cartoons

Letter signed by Beethoven brings $275K at Heritage Auctions

Meet Spain's new flamenco prodigy 'El Yiyo'

Swann to hold inaugural sale of Modern & Post-War Art

Ketterer Kunst announces highlights of the Autumn Auctions

Immigration Museum reopens with two new exhibitions

Two works that exude Christmas & Thanksgiving spirit to be offered at Dreweatts

Find Your Perfect Round Black Sinks




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

sa gaming free credit
Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful