Above: Full view of goauche

Above: The artist’s signature lower left

The finest example of a Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration we have had to offer. A 1950s-era gouache on board titled “Pearl Gardens, for Cultivated Pearls”. Created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts, the image depicts a pair of topless pin-up girl mermaids in an underwater oyster mine with 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, and his star is growing all the time.

Above: Detail

Above: Detail

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.

Above: Framed and matted in fine gallery frame

Above: Notations on verso

A list of titles that 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