Pixar at the Museum of Modern Art

179 Pages·2016·27.38 MB·English

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Date
2005
Publisher
Chronicle Books
ISBN
0811852164, 9780811852166
Exhibition URL
www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/91
The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—
from our founding in 1929 to the present—is
available online. It includes exhibition catalogues,
primary documents, installation views, and an
index of participating artists.
MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art

AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
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San Francisco
A very special thanks to
the Intel Corporationa nd Porsche AG
for their generous support of
the Pixar exhibition at MoMA.
Special thanks to The Walt Disney Company
for their cooperation in this exhibition.
Published on the occasion
of the exhibition Pixar: 20 Years of Animation
organized by Steven Higgins, Curator,
and Ronald S. Magliozzi, Assistant Curator,
Department of Film and Media,
at The Museum of Modern Art,
New York, December 14, 2005-February 6, 2006.
Copyright ' 2005 Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar
Cover copyright ' Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar
Foreword copyright ' 2005 Steven Higgins and Ronald S. Magliozzi
Introduction copyright ' 2005 Pixar
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form without
written permission from the publisher.
Page 176 constitutes a continuation of the copyright page.
ISBN 10: 0-8118-5216-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-8118-5216-6
Manufactured in the United States
Designed by
Andy Dreyfus and DeAnn Cobb
Typesetting and composition by
Patrick David Barber
10 98765432 1
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cover: page 2:
Tia Kratter Ralph Eggleston
Sullivan fur pattern studies (detail) Colorscript (detail)
MONSTERS,I NC. TOY STORY
Mixed media Pastel
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 FOREWORD
9 INTRODUCTION
10 CHARACTERS
62 SCULPTURE
78 STORY
94 COLORSCRIPTS
118 WORLDS
168 MEDIA INSTALLATIONS
174 FILMOGRAPHY
175 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
John Lasseter
Luxo
LUXOJR.
Pastel
14%x 17%
FOREWORD
even those knowledgeable about Pixar’s animated resulting in a scene-stealing, iconic creation that seems des
films(cid:151)ToyS tory, A Bug’s Life, ToyS tory 2, Monsters, Inc., Find tined to live well beyond the "show" itself.
ing Nemo, and The Incredibles(cid:151)often need to be reminded An important aspect of seeing original Pixar animation art in
that computer animation is not driven primarily by technology. person is the recognition of its handmade quality. In creating
Despitet he studio’s own best efforts to explaint heir work through their art, studio employees make use of a remarkable range of
the media and "extras" on their DVD releases,t he notion lingers traditional media, including but not limited to pencil, pen and
that computer animation is created through the push of a but marker, gouache, acrylic and clay, scissorsa nd paste. Consider
ton. While it is true that 3-D animation does not make use of Pete Docter’s whimsically precise marker sketch of "Sulley
the many layers of photographed paper and celluloid that has and Mike" and Geefwee Boedoe’s wacky mixed media con
served as the basic medium for virtually all 2-D eel animation cept art for Monsters, Inc., Ralph Eggleston’sm ajestic pastel
over the past ninety years, the pioneering system of digital ani colorscripts for Toy Story and Finding Nemo, Teddy Newton’s
mation used by Pixar Animation Studios produces a wealth of textured photo-realistic collages for The Incredibles, and the
preparatorym aterial that is sculpted, painted, and drawn. Each tribal-looking maquettesw hich are sometimesd igitized for com
piece of framed art and media in MoMA’s exhibition Pixar is puter modeling purposes by Jerome Ranft and Greg Dykstra.
another window into the extraordinary process by which that As trained artists like Glenn Kim, John Lee, Lou Romano, and
studio conceives and developst he worlds, characters, and sto Bill Cone take up digital tools to create the paintings and col
ries that become their films or, as their teams of artists fondly orscripts for The Incredibles and Cars, they bring a painterly
describe them during production, their "shows." sensibility to computer graphics. "Artscape," the media piece
"Proof of concept" is a phrase that elegantly expressest he created for the Museum’s Yoshiko and Akio Morita Gallery by
nature of the studio’s commitment to creativity and its willing artist/director Andrew Jimenez and legendary sound designer
ness to give its artists the freedom to test the limits of their imagi Gary Rydstrom, invites viewerst o reexperiencet he handcrafted
nation. Art generated in the early stages of production shapes originals in the exhibition as touchstones in a digital installa
the final films in surprising and rewarding ways. In addition to tion. The quality of the concept and process art produced at
the time-honored animation storyboards and character model Pixar rises above being merely useful at a particular point in
sheets familiar to every student of the genre, digital filmmak the production of the studio’s releases. In the act of exploring
ing requires colorscripts; lighting, shading, and texture stud the symbiotic relationship between story and art for each new
ies; displacement maps; and 3-D models. Perspective, color, project, the artists included in Pixar have created work that has
and light studies of the type developed by artists Tia Kratter, an expressivel ife all its own.
Robin Cooper, and Bill Cone for the natural world of A Bug’s Pixar is the largest exhibition devoted to animation that The
Life and Dominique R. Louis for the artificial world of Monsters, Museum of Modern Art has ever presented,a nd it is the first time
Inc. typify the kinds of crucial research done to find just the that the original art created at Pixar has been seen outside the
right visual style for each new story. The visions of a film noir studio. It is a tribute to a company of artists whosew ork has rein
world treated in the charcoal and pencil drawings of Simon vented the genre through a technology unique to the late twen
Varela for Finding Nemo resonate through the finished film, tieth century and whose possibilities in the twenty-first century
although they do not appear on the screen. Character develop can only be imagined. On the occasion of the studio’s twentieth
ment art by Ricky Nierva, Nicolas Marlet, Harley Jessup, and anniversary,w ith six successful features and ten shorts already
Bob Pauley for Monsters, Inc. exists in an astounding range to its credit, Pixar has demonstrated beyond doubt that giving
of delightful works on paper and in a unique series of over two free rein to artists within the disciplined structure of a major ani
dozen sculptures for the oversized lead, Sullivan. The evolution mation studio is the key to producing outstanding popular art(cid:151)a
of "E," the diminutive secondaryc haracter in The Incredibles, is "proof of concept" if ever there was one.
documented in art that crossest he borders of race and gender,
STEVEN HIGGINS
Curator,D epartmenot f Film and Media
The Museumo f ModernA rt
RONALD S. MAGLIOZZI
AssistantC urator,D epartmenot f Film and Media
The Museumo f ModernA rt
FOREWORD 7