(Walt Disney Studios, 1950) Exquisite original concept painting by Mary Blair for Cinderella, showing the title character fleeing from the castle in her white ball gown, leaving a single glass slipper left glowing on the winding staircase. An impressive rendering of the stark interior castle just moments before midnight, Blair employs shades of white, gray, and black to cast a decidedly nervous atmosphere to the painting; Blair’s decision to remove the background color not only places all focus on Cinderella and her abandoned glass slipper, but it likewise adds a greater sense of urgency and anxiety as Cinderella makes her last-second escape. Accomplished in tempera on 9.75 x 9 artist's board. In fine condition, with tack holes to borders. Blair was a concept artist for Disney during the 1940s and early 1950s, working on designs for such films as Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. She also created designs for several Disney attractions (including It's a Small World), and her largest work ever, the multi-story mosaic in Disney World's Contemporary Hotel concourse.