Books with author Charles Solomon

Disney's Lost Art is a deluxe celebration of the visual development of shorts, scenes, and entire feature length films by Walt Disney Animation Studios that, for one reason or another, never made it to the screen. The book will be divided into three sections. The first part will focus on animation drawings, story sketches, and concept art created for vintage scenes that were cut from shorts and features including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Rescuers. The second section will be dedicated entirely to Wild Life, a Disney feature film that was never finished. Part Three will be devoted to My Peoples, another unfinished feature. Disney fans and art enthusiasts will delight in this exclusive look at an untold piece of Disney history.

The Beauty and the Beast legend has a universal appeal; the fairy tale exists in numerous versions throughout the world. During the process of being translated into a Disney film, Beauty and the Beast had several false starts. It was originally conceived as an eighteenth-century period piece, directed by the British husband-and-wife team of Richard and Jill Purdum. After some changes, two new directors, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, were put in charge of the project. Although he was initially reluctant to do another animated film after The Little Mermaid, the late Howard Ashman came on board shortly after the new directors did. Over many months, the characters and story evolved further, but there were many changes, and wrong turns. Sequences were created, reworked, cut, and added as the film gradually emerged, like a statue from a block of marble. After all of the ups and downs, Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991 to rave reviews and record-breaking box-office business. The film was widely hailed as a technical and aesthetic breakthrough and remains the only animated feature ever to be nominated for an Oscar for best picture. This authoritative book features interviews with artists, voice-over actors, and executives, and transcripts of meetings and story sessions. Illustrations abound throughout, including sketches, caricatures, sequences of animation drawings, and preliminary artwork from discarded scenes. This book will be a must-have for any fan of the “Tale as Old as Time.”

The Beauty and the Beast legend has a universal appeal; the tale exists in numerous versions throughout the world. After all of its ups and downs, Disney's Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991 to rave reviews and record-breaking business. The film was widely hailed as a technical and aesthetic breakthrough. It was the first of only three animated features ever to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. Its success has since spun into a smash Broadway musical adaptation, intricately detailed environments at Walt Disney World, and soon a live-action movie musical directed by Bill Condon. This authoritative book features interviews with artists, producers, directors, writers, actors, and more from the various beloved installments-making it a treasure trove of delights for fans of the tale as old as time.