Artist: Myron Waldman
Title: Popeye - Dynamite Muscle
Year created: 1990
Medium: Hand-Signed & Numbered Hand-Painted Animation Cel
Signed by the artist
Edition: 56/500 Original Toon Art Limited Edition Hand-Signed & Numbered
Height (inches): 15
Width (inches): 18
This piece is framed.
Includes a certificate of authenticity.
Description of piece: Dynamite Muscle, this rare collectible Popeye animation art, is numbered and hand-signed by animation industry icon Myron Waldman who worked as head animator at Fleischer Studio in the 1930s during the Golden Age of Animation, and later at Paramount's Famous Studios. Myron Waldman is renowned for working on some of the best Popeye, Betty Boop and Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons.
The work features Popeye aboard a ship, can of spinach in hand, displaying his giant powerful-as-dynamite muscle. The blue sky and waves of the background have fine details and coloration.
Measuring 11" in height x 14" in width, and hand-numbered 56 from the limited edition of 500, this hand-painted artwork was published in 1990 by Toon Art from Myron Waldman's drawing, from which an original cel and background were created. The background was then printed using four-color offset lithography, and the cel image was individually hand-painted.
This rare cel was trimmed by the studio so that it maintains the image of the corkboard— complete with visible thumbtacks in the corners— to which Mr. Waldman's original art was tacked as part of the production process, adding an interesting dimensionality and detail to the artwork, and visual insight into the artistic production process.
The cel bears the original Toon Art / King Features Syndicate logo complete with production date of 1990, in the upper right image area. In the lower right area of the artwork, adjacent to Popeye's anchor-tatooed arm, Myron Waldman has hand-signed the work "MYRON WALDMAN" in gold paint, above the edition number. The artwork comes framed and ready for display in an elegant black frame; framed size is 15" in height x 18" width. The work is accompanied by a Full Letter of Authenticity from James Spence Authentication (JSA).
Artist bio: Myron Waldman (1908 – 2006) was an animator whose illustrious career in animation spanned well over 50 years and includes over 170 credits as director of animation and animator.
Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Waldman attended the Pratt Institute and was first hired as an inker and fill-in artist by the Fleischer Studios in 1930. The studio, located at 1600 Broadway in Times Square and operated by the brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, was America's pre-eminent animation workshop. Waldman went on to become a principle animator at Fleischer.
Few are untouched by his diverse work and animation accomplishments. Best known for his work at Fleischer Studio, his credits include Casper the Friendly Ghost, Popeye (Olive Oyl & Bluto), Betty Boop, Raggedy Ann & Raggedy Andy, Baby Huey, Gulliver's Travels, and the animated adaptations of Superman. He also created one of the first graphic novels, the wordless novel Eve: A Pictorial Love Story.
In 1986 Waldman received the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Award, and in 1997 was given the Winsor McCay Award for his lifetime work in the field of animation. In the 1990's Myron Waldman was honored with retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of the Moving Image and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.