The Golden Age of Warner Bros. Cartoons

“The Golden Age of Warner Bros. Cartoons” brings together over 150 original artworks, plus dozens of hours of video, to celebrate a legendary Hollywood animation studio, the rambunctious birthplace of characters who have become part of American folklore.

As noted by The New York Times: “Life in these United States would be inconceivable without the shared referent of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, The Tasmanian Devil, Tweety, Sylvester, Porky Pig, Pepe Le Pew and Yosemite Sam.”

Since 1930, the “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” of Warner Bros. have delighted audiences young and old with their wit and surprising sophistication. Such Warner phrases as “What’s up, Doc?”, “That’s All Folks!”, “I Taut I Taw a Putty-Tat”, “Sufferin’ Succotash!”, “You’re Dethpicable!” and “Acme” have become part of the national vocabulary.

Originally shown in theaters — where they were already the most popular cartoons of their day — the Warner shorts developed new audiences on television. Most people under age 50 have seen these cartoons literally hundreds of times as they were growing up. Yet most are unfamiliar with the artwork from which these films were created.

Warner’s seven-minute cartoons repeatedly receive both critical and popular acclaim the finest, funniest and most culturally significant animated shorts to come from Hollywood’s classic period. In poll after poll — on YouTube, CNN, TV Guide, even Google Search — Bugs Bunny wins “The Greatest Cartoon Character of All Time” (or similar).

Further, Warner Bros. was the first cartoon-maker of any kind to be given a full-scale retrospective by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It was the first time that MoMA exhibited animation art.

EXHIBITION MATERIALS

Artworks, captions, wall texts, graphics.

DISPLAY

The exhibition is comfortable in anywhere between 2.000 and 4.000 square feet, divided into sections that include How Animation is Made and character-based displays. Museums are encouraged to add at least two video monitors, so visitors can see the finished cartoons as well as delight in the wondrous music, voices and sound effects that are among the glories of Warner animation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF COLLECTION

• Geographic location of storage: U.S.A.
• All works are shipped framed as per international museum standards.
• Collection includes the necessary international shipping crates and packing materials ensuring safe ‘nail to nail” transport.
• Collection is comprehensive, covering a substantial part of the artist’s body of work making it capable of serving as a stand-alone exhibition.
• Museum curators are provided with extensive information and may curate the exhibition to their specifications.
• Collection may be expanded or complemented with art from the borrowing museum’s own collections.
• Collection provides endless opportunities for the development of educational programs, which we can assist with.