Jan 24, 2013 - Sale 2300

Sale 2300 - Lot 197

Unsold
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
CHARLES HOFFBAUER. Scene Sketches for "War and Peace."
Pencil, pen and ink, and crayon on thin wove paper, comprising 15 panels on one sheet. 215x280 mm; 8 1/2x11 inches. Stamped signature lower right. Circa 1943.

Additional Details

Hoffbauer escaped Nazi-Occupied France in 1941 and made his way to the US where he began working as an animator for Walt Disney Studios. Soon thereafter, he approached Walt Disney with the idea of making an animated cartoon version of Tolstoy's War and Peace, offering to draw all the cels himself. Disney's reported response was that animated cartoons were children's entertainment and not suitable for serious literature. These appear to be rare preliminary sketches, as only finished drawings from his scuttled project have appeared at auction previously.