Above: Full view of gouache painting

Above: The artists signature lower right

A wonderful nude mermaid themed Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration, the second of two are offering at Grapefruit Moon Gallery. A 1950s-60s gouache on board created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts. This depicts a topless pin up girl mermaid on a balance scale with a tray of freshly mined pearls surrounded underwater by a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute. The whimsical charm predicts Layne’s later career in the animation department for Walt Disney feature films. We expect Bill Layne to become a wildly collected and important artist in years to come.

Above: Detail

Above: Unframed full view

Above: Matted and framed view

Bill Layne was a prolific and influential Walt Disney Studio’s commercial illustrator who also created hundreds of commissioned images for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and was one of their last true stars. A unique talent that is just starting to fine traction among today’s forward looking collectors and dealers.

A list of titles that Bill Layne illustrated follows:

1. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) (background artist)
2. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974) (background artist)
3. Robin Hood (1973) (background artist)
4. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) (background artist)
… aka Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 25th Anniversary Special Edition (USA: longer version)
5. The AristoCats (1970) (background artist)

6. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) (background artist)
7. The Jungle Book (1967) (background artist)
8. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) (background artist)
9. Goofy’s Freeway Troubles (1965) (background artist)
… aka Freewayphobia #2
10. Mary Poppins (1964) (background artist)
11. The Sword in the Stone (1963) (background artist)
12. “Disneyland” (background artist) (2 episodes, 1961)

13. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) (background artist)

14. Sleeping Beauty (1959) (background artist)

Art Department:

1. Eyes in Outer Space (1959) (paintings) (as William Layne)

2. “Disneyland” (space paintings) (2 episodes, 1955-1957)

3. Cosmic Capers (1957) (space paintings) (as William Layne)

Actor:

1. Night of the Quarter Moon (1959) (uncredited) …. Cameraman

2. Female Jungle (1955) …. Heckler at Murder Scene
… aka The Hangover