I never really paid any attention to the backgrounds until I was offered a few of them. I guess I was too wrapped up in the action to really notice the quality behind the characters. When this Master Background from "Put-Put Troubles" (1940) was rolled out in front of me I really was not prepared for a piece of art almost 5-feet wide! On top of that, the level of detail was impressive. Once I realized that this art would be "seen" from a vantage point of less than two feet as the camera followed the action across the sheet, it all made sense. I simply had not given it much thought before.
There is a significant section on the left side where the artist wiped his/her brush while painting with the water colors. Since I hate cutting anything, I decided to frame the background with that section exposed. People either love it or hate it, but I think causes the viewer to assume a different attitude when looking at this great piece of art.
I hope you click on the close-up images so you can take a better look at the detail!
----- DATABASE NOTES -----
From “Put-Put Troubles” (1940). Pan watercolor master background of the Dock in this Donald Duck cartoon directed by Riley Thomson. [Image: 57.5"W x 12"H] Acquired 2000. SeqID-0316
Wonderful item(s)! This background clearly illustrates the lecture that background artist Sam Armstrong held on June 29th, 1938, in which he tells that the artists should use, on a scale of one to ten, only the middle five values, since Technicolor would stretch the contrast to fill out the spectrum of colors. Therefor, the artists deliberately painted without blacks or whites, keeping everything within this limited range, giving the backgrounds their very specific and strangely charming look.
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