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Mary Blair played a big role in the early days of Disney. The painter and concept designer drove the style of "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Peter Pan." Many other artists worked on those films. But she had a special place in Walt Disney's heart.

Friday marks what would have been her 100th birthday. Google is celebrating with a Google Doodle in colorful and playful style that it is so important to Disney.

When Ms. Blair received her own exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco a year ago, introduced the show's curator with some high praise: "The case is filled with treasures from Mary Blair, who, according to some historians, was Walt Disney's favorite an artist! "




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What is it that Mr. Disney is so revered? Well, when he set out to create an animation studio, his inspiration comes from the realists. I wish Norman Rockwell, Thomas Hart Benton and Gustaf Tenneggren, explains historian John Canemaker, in his book "The Art and Flair of Mary Blair."

Blair is definitely not a realist. She embraced the bold colors, shapes designed and decorated with figures. She was a modernist Disney - companies flair for eccentricity.

"Her vibrant colors and stylish designs pervade Disney animated films 1943 - 1953," writes Mr. Canemaker. "Below this seemingly simple style, lies an enormous visual sophistication and craftsmanship in everything from color choices to the composition."

Disney had an amazing stable of artists, "but where is Mary Blair was unique was that the work that she is not here in the studio was not only a beautiful work, which she did not go beyond the project in pure art," says Michael Giaimo, artistic director of the Disney's "Pocahontas" in an interview with the LA Times last week. "It has become an art. It has become a statement for yourself."

"Its most distinctive factor is that the kind of showing us her soul," Mr. Giaimo said. "It's not just a slick commercial art, it is a combination of commercial and personal in art. It puts into her art work and goes beyond most Disney films."




In fact, you can still see Blair's style shines through modern animated films. Pixar producer Jonas Rivera says Blair profoundly influenced the design of the 2009's "Up."

"We had a movie about a house that floats in the air with thousands of balloons on it," said Rivera Memphis Commercial Appeal paper. "So we decided it needed a certain amount of whimsy and caricature to support it. So, Carl is three heads high, and he was very square, with square glasses. He kind of looks like a house, in some way. Caricatured look of this world - I really want to push the form of language, we really wanted to push the color palette, to be courageous we are more inspired by graphic design painting of Mary Blair, but any photo reference ".