Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation

(Chronicle, 2007)
™ and © Chronicle

This art book features essays printed along with stills, designs, and sketches from 50s animation. There are few books about this era and style of animation, and very few of these films are in print, making this book a must-have. In the 1950s there was a movement led by the UPA animation studio to combine modern art sensibilities found in fine art and design with animation and cartooning. The result was a minimalist design-based style that was a radical departure from the overly naturalistic animation popularized by the Walt Disney Studio.

The book starts with an introduction on and a background of the art movement, and presents an overview of the most important studios working in that style. The prints are superb, with many taken directly from original art, cels, and background paintings, and not from film stills. There is also a nice mix of art from different designers and directors of each studio. My only complaint is that I wish the book went into more detail on certain studios, but that was a necessary oversight for this overview of the whole movement.

— Colin Walton

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