NYC's Metropolitan Museum Of Art To Host Disney Exhibit

New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced an upcoming exhibit featuring artwork from the animated films produced by Walt Disney Co. DIS.

Tale As Old As Time... The exhibit, entitled "Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts," will combine 150 production artworks and works on paper from the Disney collection with 40 works of 18th-century European decorative arts and design – including tapestries, furniture, Boulle clocks and Sèvres porcelain.

In this exhibit, the museum will highlight how Disney's animators sought inspiration for the visual style for films including "Cinderella" (1950), "Sleeping Beauty" and "Beauty and the Beast." The exhibit will also include film footage highlighting the evolution of artistic and technological influences on the Disney canon.

"In mounting The Met's first-ever exhibition devoted to Walt Disney and his studios' oeuvre, it was important for us to explore his sources of inspiration as well as to recognize that his studio's animated interpretations of European fairytales have become a lens through which many view Western art and culture today," said Wolf Burchard, the exhibition's curator, in a press statement.

Related Link: Disney Executive Files Lawsuit Alleging LGBTQ Discrimination

Tale As Sweet As Wine... "Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts" opens Dec. 10 and runs through March 6, 2022.

The exhibit offers a two-fold example of serendipitous timing. First, as New York City moves into a post-pandemic environment, the Disney offering will be a major tourist magnet during the holiday season.

The exhibit is also being timed with the 30th anniversary of the release of "Beauty and the Beast," which made history as the first animated film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and later inspired a 1994 Broadway show and a 2017 live-action remake.

Disney recently announced it will produce an eight-part prequel series for Disney+ with the working title "Beauty and Best," with Luke Evans and Josh Gad are reprising their roles as Gaston and LeFou from the 2017 film.

Photo: The Walt Disney Co.