Bidding for this lot will end on Friday, March 27th. The auction will begin at 2:00 PM (PDT) / 5:00 PM (EDT) / 9:00 PM (GMT) and lots are sold sequentially via live auctioneer; tune in to the live streaming broadcast on auction day to follow the pace. Note other lots in the auction may close on Wednesday, March 25th or Thursday, March 26th.
An exceptional matched pair of original Disney production storyboard drawings featuring Happy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), among the earliest and most historically important works in animation art.
These boards belong to Disney's formative feature production, the film that established the studio and the medium itself as a serious art form. Snow White was the first full-length cel-animated feature ever produced, and its story department, led by figures such as Bill Peet, Ted Sears, and other early story men, built the film through drawings like these before animation began. Material from this period represents the foundation of feature animation storytelling.
The scene places Happy at the cottage window, his rounded form and soft, expressive posture immediately readable even at the storyboard stage. The handwritten note, "Hap's nose flat against pane," is a direct piece of production instruction, tying the drawing to a specific acting beat. The red and blue camera framing lines show how the image was composed for the screen, an essential part of Disney's early cinematic approach. These are not generic sketches but working storyboards, carrying staging, performance, and camera information.
Both sheets bear the "Copyright Walt Disney Productions All Rights Reserved" stamp associated with the Courvoisier Galleries release program. Between 1938 and the early 1940s, Courvoisier was authorised to sell original Disney production artwork, making these among the earliest animation artworks ever offered as fine art. Pieces from this program are a cornerstone of serious Disney collecting.
Storyboard material from Snow White is extremely rare, particularly character-focused boards that still retain production notes and framing guides. As a pair, these drawings carry even greater weight, showing sequential development within the same moment and preserving multiple stages of the story process.
For collectors, this is Golden Age Disney at its origin point, production art from the film that launched the feature animation industry, released through the studio's first fine art program, and tied directly to the visual storytelling of one of the Seven Dwarfs. Pieces of this calibre and provenance rarely surface together.
Estimate: $2,000 - 4,000