Animation Infuencer

One of the great things about the Internet is the accessibility of information. Without the vast online resources available today it's pretty certain that a wide education about painting and painters would have been considerably more difficult, no to say impossible. These days it is a rare month when rummagng around online fails to turn up an artist I'd never heard of. That's the case with an astonishing German artist and cartoonist of the 19th-20th centuries whose influence is still being felt. 

Heinrich Kley, "Self Portrait"

Heinrich Kley (1863-1945) trained academically in Germany and for quite a few years made a living as a painter and illustrator there. In his spare time he filled sketchbooks with pen and ink drawings for his own and his wife's amusement. By 1908 he had painted murals for public spaces and completed many industrial scene for Krupp, the steelworks. But it was his cartoons,which began appearing in periodicals of the time, that are the foundation of his reputation. The cartoons, original, wry, sometimes grotesque, sometimes vaguely erotic, were a sensation. Before long two books containing hundreds of his sketches were published (still available now in a Dover edition). One of the innovative aspects of the sketches was anthropomorphized animals--crocodiles dancing, singing turtles, elephants ice skating like humans, and much more. Mr. Kley was literally able to draw nearly anything, and did.

Today many artists who draw in ink use technical pens or fountain pens, but in those days artists used a traditional pen with a flexible steel nib that had to be recharged with ink quite often. You did that by dipping the nib into an inkwell or bottle. The beauty of a flexible dip pen is the variability in line width and darkness that can be achieved, something not easily done with today's tech pens. Mr. Kley was such an accomplished draftsman with dip pens that he was very quickly hailed as a master.

Although Mr. Kley did well for a few years after his wide recognition, the World War and then the death of his wife reduced his output, and his fame faded in the 1930s, his work had a profound influence on none other than Walt Disney, who had come into possession of several of his sketchbooks and dozens of drawings. The now-classic Disney animated feature "Fantasia" in particular owes enormously to them.

Although Mr. Kley did well for a few years after his wide recognition, the World War and then the death of his wife reduced his output, and his fame faded in the 1930s, his work had a profound influence on none other than Walt Disney, who had come into possession of several of his sketchbooks and dozens of drawings. The now-classic Disney animated feature "Fantasia" in particular owes enormously to them (see clip below). Furthermore, I think his work was a likely influence on Dr. Seuss, who may have patterned at least one of his villains after a Kley drawing--"Herr Schoolmaster," above.

There are several books about Heinrich Kley that have become available in the past decade or two (easily gotten on Amazon) and are well worth the time.