Architecture of Reassurance Exhibit in Washington, D.C.
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Showing Now through August 5th at the National Building Museum, Washington D.C.
By Allison Keaney
I had the opportunity to attend this exhibition which is a wonderful collection of artwork created during planning, imagining, and designing of Disney theme parks.
The exhibition was organized by the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal, in cooporation with the guidance and talent of Marty Sklar, Imagineering’s Creative Director, and the confidence and restraint of Walt Disney Attractions and The Walt Disney Company. Rounding out the presentation team is Karal Ann Marling, curator of the exhibition and the project’s director of research
The exhibition contains nearly 350 objects from Walt Disney Imagineering. As one would imagine, the exhibition is somewhat organized by Land but what is even more interesting is the way it is organized from a socio-creative standpoint. The viewer first is drawn into the exhibit as it shares the creative spark in Walt Disney that was fueled partly by his own genius and partly by his frustration with the unimaginative and unwholesome family entertainment options of his day.
The entrance placard to the exhibitions reads:
Disneyland, the world’s first theme park, opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. Structured by its themes, the park was divided into five smaller "lands" designed around cinematic and cultural motifs with particular meaning wo Walt Disney: Main Street U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland. The architecture of the theme park was familiar from television shows: Disneyland was a kind of backlot tour of a make-believe place where the illusion of a frontier town or a space colony could be conjured up at will.
As the same time Disney saw the park as a tacit critique of the chaotic American city and the meandering post-war suburbs that were fuled by the automobile. New approaches to architecture and city planning are still central elements of Disney parks. Today, the principles embedded in Disneyland have spread outside the parks and into the hotel complexes surrounding them, into stores and malls, and into our daily lives.
Room 1: Imagineering Disneyland, the Introductory
Gallery
Here we are presented with the evolution of Walt Disney’s early thinking about a
theme park which goes back to the late 1930s. We are treated to drawings of Walt’s
early ideas for a new type of family entertainment: drawings of the park that was to be
located on Riverside Drive in Burbank, sketches and preliminary designs for Disneylandia,
a small set from the concept of the mechanical traveling show, photos of Walt working on
his train engines, and early map designs of Disneyland itself.
As you enter the room, the first thing you see in the middle of the floor is the full cabinet, scene and figure of the Dancing Man, designed and built by Walt with machinery created and built by Roger Broggie. The walls are covered with artwork, and as any curator would do, the largest most colorful works are placed in the center of walls. So, there in a place of honor is the beautiful painting (oil and blacklight paint on storyboard) of a bird’s eye view of Disneyland by Peter Ellingshaw created for Walt’s ABC introduction of Disneyland.
But what is that there? In the lower right hand corner a map catches my eye. It is not pretty or colorful, but rather a carefully rendered pencil drawing of a birds eye view of Disneyland. It is none other than Herb Ryman’s weekend rendering of Disneyland for Roy to take with him to New York. You can see that the drawing is well traveled and can almost feel the hopeful hands rolling it up and handing it over for the long journey.
The experience in this room is completed by video footage of Walt talking about Disneyland and his actual Park dedication.
Room 2: Main Street U.S.A.
A wonderful selection of drawings, (pencil on tissue, colored pencil on brownline,
watercolor on brownline, charcol, crayon), cover the walls. Many of these works were shown
to potential sponsors so they could get a "feel" for what their own Main Street
U.S.A. storefront might look like. In the center of the room one gets to walk down the
middle of Main Street between two scale models, experiencing forced perspective from a
birds eye view. Also present are works that went into planning the World Bazaar at Tokyo
Disneyland and Main Street for Disneyland Paris.
Room 3: Fantasyland
The highlight of this room is the beautiful scale model of the Chateau de la Belle au Bois
Dormant in Disneyland Paris. The model is perfectly executed in balance, detail, and the
color scheme that was chosen carefully to complement the French sky.
Several large renderings and paintings of Castle concepts line the walls for…
"The castle stood for innocent pleasure. It was an icon of Fantasyland when Disneyland opened in 1955. Today it has come to stand for all Disney theme parks and for the company that "imagineers" and operates them. As the parks have moved to Florida, Tokyo, and Paris, Disney artists have experimented with the castle in all its forms - imaginary models and archaeologically correct ones, castles with a horizontal profile, and castles that pierce the sky."
Accompanying the collection of Castle are the illustrations of concepts for Snow White and Mary Blair’s unique and colorful designs for "it’s a Small World." Also present are delightful models and illustrative designs for Storybook Canal Boat Rides and Toon Town.