Jules Engel

Jules Engel: Icarus

Regular price $2,200.00

J. Engel: Icarus, abstract oil on canvas, midcentury. Striking colors, broad strokes. 40 h x 24 w. Some slight cracking, also a chip uncovering paint underneath (see photos). Unsigned, but appears to be work of Jules Engel.

Born in Hungary, Jules Engel immigrated to the United States in 1930, arriving in Hollywood in 1937. He stepped into the production of Fantasia  by Walt Disney Studios in the wake of Oskar Fischinger. Engel brought color and choreography to the production, especially concepts for the Russian and Chinese dance sequences.

As one of the first members of the UPA Studios, he helped create Gerald McBoing-Boing, Madeleine and Mr. Magoo, among other favorite films. In 1959, he co-founded, Format Films, with Herb Klynn and received an Oscar nomination for his production of Icarus Montgolfier Wright, scripted by Ray Bradbury.

In the 1960s, he painted and made live-action films in Italy and France but, in 1970, returned to Los Angeles to work with the newly formed California Institute of the Arts(CalArts). He was the founding director of the Department of Experimental Abstract Animation on Film, a position he held until his death.

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