Heritage Auctions will be offering up a collection of beautiful cels from old and new classics in Dallas during an Animation Art Signature Auction on December 13 & 14. One outstanding piece is a hand-inked, hand-painted master pan production cel with master pan background set up from Disney’s 1955 Lady and the Tramp, which is expected to rate at least $35,000.
“It’s simply the most iconic image from the entire movie and one of the most beloved of all Disney images,” said Jim Lentz, Director of Animation Art at Heritage Auctions, “in the scene where Tramp takes Lady on a romantic date in the alley behind Tony’s Ristorante for dinner. The spaghetti kiss is one of the sweetest scenes ever filmed in a cartoon.”
Another lot of early Disney works includes an extremely rare hand-inked and painted black-and-white Mickey Mouse production cel with background setup, also estimated at $35,000. The 12 field nitrate cel features an action shot of a full-body Mickey from director David Hand’s 1935 short “Mickey’s Man Friday.” The background is from the 1930 Silly Symphony “Monkey Melodies.”
Bidders will also vie for a production cel setup from one of the most notable Simpsons Couch Gags — a hand-painted cel of the entire Simpson family created for the 1993 Citizen Kane parody “Rosebud.” Other offerings from across many eras of animation include “Superman – Mad Scientist” (1941; hand-painted production cel on background – est. $10,000), rare Popeye and Wimpy cel with background (Max Fleischer, 1937 “Organ Grinders Swing”), and cels from Super Friends (Hanna-Barbera, 1978) and two cels from Warner Bros.’ “What’s Opera, Doc?” featuring Bugs Bunny as Brunhilde and Elmer Fudd as Siegfried.
Additional Disney highlights include pieces from Fantasia “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Peter Pan concept art by Mary Blair, Sleeping Beauty dragon concept by Eyvind Earle, Snow White publicity drawing by Fred Moore, animatronic Disneyland figures from Pinocchio, a “Steamboat Willie” drawing by Ub Iwerks, and more.
For complete information, visit HA.com.
