Making Magoo

Beyond Cartoons:  Along with ‘Bambi,’ ‘Fantasia’ and ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks,’ animation artist Jules Engel — whose work will be on view at Princeton’s Williams Gallery — created fine art in the modern tradition.

By: Susan Van Dongen
   They say genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration, but something has to be said for a person’s energy level as well. Try telling a highly creative individual to "take it easy." He won’t even hear you.
   For example, during periods of manic creativity, Pablo Picasso wore down his friends, lovers and spouses. (See the 1996 film Surviving Picasso). Thomas Edison was a workaholic as well and, like Picasso, kept a bed in his studio, perhaps to remind himself that his poor body needed rest.

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A 1970 production cel of television’s most loved nearsighted cartoon character.

   Even a "popular genius" like Frank Sinatra had this kind of drive. He literally would stay up until sunrise making music and merriment, and wouldn’t let his sleepy companions retire until he did.
   Although they may have burned their companions out — and abused themselves along the way — all three men lived into their 80s and beyond.
   Master animator, artist and filmmaker Jules Engel may not be as instantly recognizable or manic as Picasso, Edison and Sinatra, but he has a similarly high level of energy and a tremendous body of work. Like a long-distance runner, Mr. Engel keeps making art and shows no sign of slowing down. He won’t give his age, but is probably in his mid- to late-80s.
   "To a degree, you either have the energy or you don’t, and that’s a very big factor in creativity," says the man best known for his cartoon characters, including Mr. Magoo. "Maybe I’m just put together differently than most other people."
   New works and highlights from the last 40 years of Mr. Engel’s career will be on view at the Williams Gallery in Princeton Sept. 22-Oct. 20. The inaugural exhibit at the gallery’s new location on Witherspoon Street will feature a selection of the artist’s drawings, paintings and more than 15 new lithographs.
   Animation cells from Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing are also in the exhibit. As one of the founding members of United Productions of America, Mr. Engel was part of the team that created cartoon favorites, including Alvin and the Chipmunks, for Format Films. He also produced and directed Icarus, an animated film scripted by Ray Bradbury, which received an Academy Award nomination.
   To date, Mr. Engel has collected three Academy Awards and 11 nominations.

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"Muybridge Dog," 1985, a limited edition lithograph at The Williams Gallery in Princeton.

   Born in Budapest, Hungary, Mr. Engel immigrated to the U.S. with his family in the 1930s. He became associated with several prestigious workshops in Southern California and quickly established his place in Los Angeles’ modernist art scene. Mr. Engel began his animation career at Walt Disney Studios, where he worked on Bambi and Fantasia.
   He is known for creating the storyboards for The Nutcracker‘s Chinese and Russian dance scenes in Fantasia, however his work went uncredited at the time. Mr. Engel says he was chosen to do those scenes because he was one of the studio’s few animators who had actually been to a ballet.
   "I saw the Ballet Russe in Monte Carlo and that did it," he says in a voice still tinged with a Hungarian accent. "I not only saw art, but a kind of movement I had never seen before. It was the kind of thing that brought an enormous change to my art and my individual vision began to emerge. Dance — especially choreography by George Balanchine, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham — has always been a tremendous influence."
   Immersion in electronic media never distracted Mr. Engel from fine art, especially printmaking. The latest works on paper are an example of his masterful control combined with bold use of color, which he attributes to his studies of modern art masters.

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"You either have a sense of color or you don’t, but if you want to learn, look at works by Paul Klee, Ferdinand Leger and (Pablo) Picasso," Mr. Engel says.

   "You either have a sense of color or you don’t, but if you want to learn, look at works by Paul Klee, Ferdinand Leger and (Pablo) Picasso," Mr. Engel says. "There’s a lot more color in my recent works, more so than 15 years ago."
   In 1970, Mr. Engel co-founded the California Institute of the Arts Experimental Animation program. He is now director of the innovative program, where he continues to share his knowledge of modern art and promote its influence in animation.
   "Cal-Arts was founded for fine art, not commercial art," he says. "That in itself was experimental. You could do any damn thing you wanted and the university is still that way, still largely open to the students’ needs.
   "Sometimes a course of study gets so defined, the university takes away from the learning experience instead of letting the student talent just thrive. I say, ‘Don’t stop or discourage the artists.’ It’s not what you give a student, it’s what you don’t take away."
   Mr. Engel has sent enthusiastic artists into the "real world" after graduation, and he stays in touch with many of them. Unfortunately, he sees the demands of commercial work overcome some of his best and brightest. He says it is very rare for an individual to rise above the daily grind and continue to create.
   "They have to make a living," he says. "But at the end of the day they don’t want to make art anymore. It’s a shame. The job world slows them down. It’s just a matter of time and energy. How much can the body function?
   "It does take an incredible amount of energy to be an artist. For some people, if they spend eight hours at work, all their creativity is used up. But you can’t just become a slave to your job. When all is said and done, you create art because you want to do it. What is important is to do and do and do. Just keep working. It’s up to you."
Works by Jules Engel are on view at the Williams Gallery, 16½ Witherspoon
St., Princeton, Sept. 22-Oct. 20. Opening reception Sept. 22, 5-7 p.m.
Gallery hours: Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and by appointment. For information,
call (609) 921-1142. On the Web: www.wmgallery.com