(Walt Disney Studios, circa 1960s) Desirable original concept painting by Marc Davis for Disneyland's famous dark ride attraction Pirates of the Caribbean, which depicts a pirate slumped and seated against a treasure chest, signed in the lower right in black felt tip by Davis. Accomplished in ink and watercolor on untrimmed 12 x 10 heavyweight art paper, the scene is rendered expertly with great color and attitude, the dangerous pirate guarding his treasure with cool defiance, a cutlass piercing the sand at his feet, a pistol gripped in his palm, and a large skull-and-crossbones flag hanging threateningly at his back. In fine condition, with tack holes to corners.
One of Disney's Nine Old Men, the legendary core animators of early Disney films, Davis joined Disney in 1935 as an apprentice animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He continued to work on classic films like Bambi, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland, and then later transferred to Disney’s Imagineering team where he contributed whimsical story and character concepts for Disneyland attractions like the Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Davis is probably best known as the father of some of Disney’s most memorable animated women, including Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and Tinker Bell from Peter Pan.
