Poster Art of the Disney Parks, a book review
Disney’s 2012 release of The Poster Art of the Disney Parks galvanized Disney fans well before the book reached stores. The last book to even come close was Walt Disney Imagineering from 2010. Disney’s announcement of Poster Art of the Disney Parks sparked widespread speculation about whether the book could capture the nostalgia and spirit of the iconic attraction posters.
What makes the Poster art of the Disney Parks so satisfying is that Disney thought about the end product, the subject, the fans and the enthusiasts while putting it together. It is a large-scale book (11″ X 14″), which makes for eye-popping and big reproductions of the posters. Sometimes I offer a caveat with a review, like it is only for the hard-core nerds, but this book really offers something for everyone. Case in point: my wife was looking at the book and thought it was spectacular and she is not into Disney stuff like I am (she humors me, though).
What’s Inside the Book?
The Poster Art of the Disney Parks organizes its content into nine chapters, grouping Magic Kingdom–style parks by land, with two chapters devoted to Tokyo DisneySea and Disney California Adventure. The book places posters from other parks, such as EPCOT, into the most appropriate sections. The authors, Danny Handke and Vanessa Hunt, are Imagineers and Disney fans. Danny has worked on many attractions and a Mr. Toad attraction poster. Vanessa works in the Walt Disney Imagineering Art Library and often curates exhibits. Both were fantastic choices to write this book.
In the opening chapter, the book explores how artists created the posters, from early concept sketches to final production work. The book uses the iconic Walt Disney World Monorail poster to demonstrate the older screen-printing process, and the craftsmanship on display makes it clear that these posters stand as true works of art. There is some behind-the-scenes information about how the posters evolved and changed as different processes developed. There was a major dearth of attraction posters from the beginning of EPCOT Center until the development of Disneyland Paris (EuroDisney). The cost of screening the posters became very prohibitive and it wasn’t until computer artistry made the process simpler and cheaper that the poster program was revised.
With Disneyland Paris, Imagineers Tony Baxter and Eddie Sotto wanted to bring the posters back to create that Disneyland feel. The computers also allowed the posters to be incredibly complex. It is amazing to see the change from the bolder and simpler designs of the 50s, 60s and 70s with the posters from the 90s and beyond.
The Poster Artists
One of my favorite parts of the book is the notation of the artists that created the works. Any Disney researcher knows that identifying artists can be problematic if not impossible. Very few posters displayed are without an artist. With 142 pages, there are a lot of posters and it is great to see old favorites and once that we haven’t seen before or in a long time. By including the overseas parks, the book reveals how Disney tailored its poster art to different cultures and markets.
This is a book that every Disney fan needs to own!
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