A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: The Art of Walt Disney World

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (9)

By Jim Korkis

• The Art of Disneyland (2006) and
• The Art of Walt Disney World (2009),

both by Jeff Kurtti and Bruce Gordon

It is a sad fact of life that some of the best books about Walt Disney World go out of print quickly and become difficult to find and highly expensive once they are found. However, I look at this column as an opportunity to alert you not only to books you can immediately purchase but also a handful of those that you may want to put on your wish list.

I have found that with patience and persistence you can sometimes find one of these treasures at a reasonable price and still in good condition [see the links–Dave].

The Art of Disneyland by Jeff Kurtti and Bruce Gordon came out September 2006 from Disney Editions and was originally meant to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Disneyland. It was a huge book at 10.5 x 0.6 x 13.4 inches and weighing roughly two and a half pounds. It had to be turned sideways in order to see the artwork.

It was originally exclusively available at the theme parks and was 129 pages long. It had magnificently large pieces of color concept art including everything from John Hench’s 1954 design of the proposed Space Port in Tomorrowland to Marc Davis’ 1961 watercolor of the bathing elephants addition to the Jungle Cruise. In the back are four pages of short biographies and color photos of some of the Imagineers.

It was immensely popular so it was no surprise that in 2009, The Art of Walt Disney World was released, again exclusively available at the theme parks. Again, it is by Kurtti and Gordon who unquestionably know their stuff. It is the exact same format but runs 137 pages.

The artwork ranges from Mary Blair’s 1970 collage and acrylic for the new finale scene for WDW’s it’s a small world attraction to Herb Ryman’s 1980 acrylic piece showing the proposed Equatorial Africa Pavilion for Epcot to Paul Hartley’s famous 1971 “Fun Map” that once adorned the resorts when Walt Disney World opened in a clear, crisp reproduction.

The official description of the book is: “A showcase of the varied art and artists of Walt Disney Imagineering, The Art of Walt Disney World is a stunning collection highlighting the rich and vivid creative inspiration behind the development of the landmarks, attractions, architecture and shows that constitute this popular Vacation Kingdom.

“Selected from hundreds of thousands of conceptual materials, sketches, layout drawings and paintings in the collection of the Walt Disney Imagineering Library, this illustrated celebration of Walt Disney World features meticulously reproduced art with lavish production values in a beautiful large-format book that is destined to become a spectacular keepsake for fans of the resort, as well as art collectors and Disney fans everywhere.

“In addition, each illustration is presented with erudite and fascinating information about the projects, ideas, context and people involved in the creation of Walt Disney World that will further enrich the reader’s appreciation of the exceptional talent behind Walt Disney World’s creation – and perpetual evolution. With a personal introduction by Roy Edward Disney, The Art of Walt Disney World contains countless wonders to captivate, inform and entertain.”

I certainly can’t offer a better description than that one other than the fact that Jeff Kurtti and (the late) Bruce Gordon are two of my favorite Disney historians known for their accuracy, extensive original research and their wide range of knowledge.

So, in addition to artwork I personally had never ever seen before, there are a couple sentences of text for each piece to help better understand what is being shown. I am a huge fan of how things were created and developed and this book just whets my appetite for more.

If you are a fan of Walt Disney World and its history, this is a wonderful and out-of-the-ordinary book to include in your collection. It would be nice if Disney Editions considered updating and reprinting both editions. Until that time, happy hunting for this out-of-print treasure!

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, More Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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