3rd International Conference Colour in Film 2018

This paper argues that Classical Hollywood research in the 21st century must expand its research on the moving image to consider its wider role in visual culture, exploring in greater depth the material and aesthetic histories and business relationships between studios like Disney and other corporations, and taking as its test case the aesthetic, philosophical and material dimensions of color production in classical cel animation. Drawing upon my research into Disney’s paint and plastic formulas at the Du Pont, Faber Birren and Getty archives, I will outline this new approach as an expanded cultural and material history of synthetic color which contextualizes and reframes some of the distinctive aesthetic properties of Disney's rich and vibrant color palette of the thirties. Exploring the professional cross-connections between Walt Disney and Faber Birren, one of the most influential corporate American consultants in color design, marketing and aesthetics, and Du Pont, whose chemical research provided the color pigments, inks and nitrate cels used in Disney’s Technicolor films, will enrich our understanding of the role that Classical Hollywood, and more particularly, Disney animation played in the color revolution of the early twentieth century.
Bibliography
Selected papers, The Faber Birren Archives, Robert B. Haas Library, Yale University.
Selected materials from Du Pont Company Archives (Pigments) Hagley Library, Delaware.