Pete Max on the cover of "Life"

Peter Max's Liberty Overpaint

29. Mary Louise McLaughlin and Maria Longworth Nichols

An example of Rookwood pottery

Maria Longworth Nichols

28. Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein

"Blam"

"Ben Day Dot" artist whose cartoonish mass media works often incorporated words like "Zoom" and "Pow!" Probably overanalyzed by the experts, produced color and bold graphic art for fun's sake.

27. Charles & Henry Green

Mahogany Libary Table by Charles & Henry Green

Charles & Henry Green

26. Donald Deskey

Donald Deskey

A desk by Donald Deskey

Leading American Art Deco/Art Moderne Designer who streamlined designs and pioneered the utilization of cork-lined walls, copper ceilings, movable walls, pigskin-covered furniture, linoleum floors, Bakelite, Formica, Fabrikoid, brushed aluminum and chromium-plated brass.

25. Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World"

Andrew Wyeth

Realism painter whose intense and moving photograph-like images draw record crowds when he exhibits. A true American "Grass Roots" artist.

24. Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen

The Ingalls Hockey Rink by Eero Saarinen

Architect and city planner famous for the TWA Terminal at Kennedy International, the Chicago Tribune Tower and the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Many of Saarinen's designs have almost no straight lines, just flowing streamlined curves. 1960's type Futurism on a grand scale.

23. Robert Rauschenberg

"Retroactive 1, 1961" by Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg

22. Jim Henson

Jim Henson and the Muppets

21. Harley Earl

Harley Earl's 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket

Harley J. Earl

20. Hans G. & Florence Knoll

Hans and Florence Knoll

A Florence Knoll lounge chair

Husband and wife team followed in the footsteps of Knoll’s father’s pioneering modern furniture design and interior architectural planning.

19. Charles Eames

The Eames lounge chair and ottoman

Charles Eames

Remember those futuristic fiberglass and cast aluminum stacking chairs from the 50s and 60s? He invented them. Eames was a tireless experimenter in plastic, metal, plywood and other materials; and in bold new forms he introduced to his innovative body contoured furniture.

18. Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper

"Night Hawks" by Edward Hopper

Stark realistic painter of American vistas, often depicted in a somber mood and devoid of life even when characters are introduced to his work; as in his famous diner painting "Nighthawks."

17. Willem de Kooning

"Unititled XXV" by Willem de Kooning

Willem de Kooning

Abstract expressionist leader rivaled perhaps only by Jackson Pollack, de Kooning is famous for the action and figurative imagery he introduced into his modern art paintings.

16. Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Theodore Seuss Geisel

The Cat in the Hat

15. Maxfield Parrish

"Cinderella" by Maxfield Parrish

Maxfield Parrish

14. Gustav Stickley

Gustav Stickley

The Stickley Chair

13. Thomas Hart Benton

"The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley" by Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton

American regionalist painter focusing on rural and small town American "characters," often in a comical light.

12. Georgia O'Keefe

Georgia O'Keefe

"Red Poppy" by Georgia O'Keefe

Imitative Realist whose sensuous and spiritual depictions of naturalistic southwestern desert terrain became one of the most popular lines of poster and print images hanging in American homes from the mid 1960s on.

11. Jasper Johns

"Three Flags" by Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns

10. Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

"Fallingwater" by Frank Lloyd Wright

Invented a new type of suburbia with his broad eve. Deep porch, clean wood Prairie homes. Master designer and pioneer of Mission oak type furnishings. A true genius with wide ranging talents that made him a celebrity architect.

9. Jackson Pollock

Untitled (Green Silver)" by Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollack

The guy who, amongst other techniques, splattered and poured paint onto a canvas from overhead and called it art. Thing was, it is. Surprisingly, Pollock's work is almost impossible to duplicate. An artist who assaulted the bounds of art and got away with it, brilliantly.

8. Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster

Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster

Action Comic and Superman

In 1933 the two self-described "bespectacled, introverted, inhibited boys pooled their talents and dreams to create a revolutionary new type of duel-personality comic book hero they called "The Superman."

7. Alfred Stieglitz

"The Steerage" by Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz

6. Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany

"Tulip Table Lamp" by Louis Comfort Tiffany

5. Alexander Calder

"The Star" by Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder

Abstract artist famous for the development of "mobile" and "stabile" sculpture and producing art on a monumental scale.

4. William Van Alen

William Van Alen with his wife

William Van Alen's Chrysler Building

3. Andy Warhol

"Campbell's Soup Can" by Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

2. Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell

"Rosie the Riviter" by Norman Rockwell

1. Walt Disney

Walt Disney's Pluto and Mickey Mouse

Walt Disney

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Bambi, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, the first theme park, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. What do you get when you combine artistic flair, unparalleled imagination, technical genius, inventiveness, brilliant business savvy and add in a good work ethic, too. You get the "Wonderful World of Disney!" He practically invented the art of making art fun, especially for kids.

— by Wayne Mattox Antique Talk

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook.

It was a Saturday afternoon, back in the days of my youth, and I can still remember handing over my ten cents to the man behind the glass window, then getting a ticket to the greatest afternoon ever. I waltzed right through the theater doors and up to the refreshment stand and handed over my nickel for a Coke. If I was plush with money, I splurged on a five cent bag of popcorn. Scurrying on over to the room where the best afternoon ever would take place, I found a seat in the middle, about halfway back. There I sat, eagerly awaiting the beginning of a Disney film. I knew that real soon, the characters would be dancing before my eyes across the silver screen.

I must have seen all the Disney Cartoon Movies. I particularly remember Peter Pan flying through the air and Donald Duck chasing the children while his uncle threw his money around. What could’ve been better than that? I didn’t know I was poor. In fact, when I was able to attend the movies, I thought I was King.

In the heyday of the cartoon movie, there were hundreds of artists producing drawings and cels for movie producers, and the people who worked at the studios would often take these drawings and cels home by the handful, thinking they would some day be very valuable. Well, they were right. Today I wish some of my relatives would have worked for Disney and brought me home a hundred or so of these cels and drawings.

Drawings and Cels from the classic films can bring in the tens of thousands of dollars today. I don’t know the record high, and if anyone else does please let me know, but I’m guessing it would have to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Pieces from the 50’s or earlier will bring the greatest reward. I don’t think I have to tell you to be on the look out for these animated drawings, but be careful. There are drawings and cels being produced today by machine, and these have little value. There were several cartoon producers, but the greatest producer of these films was the Walt Disney Studios.

Let’s take a look at how the older cels were made. First, the artist would sketch the drawings and then these were photographed on to celluloid. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of these celluloid “pages” called “cels” for each feature length film. Each movement a character made had to be drawn, so that when they were put in sequence, you could see the action. This was a lengthy process, and even in the early days, it was an expensive process. Both the drawings and the cels are in great demand today.

The great thing about this merchandise is that most people wouldn’t know a machine made piece from an original. This is where you come in. Find a place where you can familiarize yourself with the originals, and when the time comes to find the treasure that others miss, you’ll have the knowledge to recognize it. If you’re on vacation in a large city, look for galleries that specialize in Animated Art, and don’t leave until you ask every question you can think of and have received an answer you can understand. This knowledge can mean big bucks to you in the future. Believe it or not, some of the best pieces I’ve ever bought were from auctions where everyone in attendance thought these items were new.

How things have changed since the time I paid my five cents for a movie. At the age of nine or ten, I picked up cola bottles and sold them as a way to pay for a special day at the movies. I walked to the movie house because my folks didn’t even own a car until I was twelve. I don’t think it even occurred to me to ask for money to see a movie, not to mention a ride to the movie house.

Movies were a real treat back then, while today, my 9-year-old son has numerous discs he can just pop in the television and have a movie whenever he wants one. Yes, I think people my age yearn for those olden days, the days when things seemed to have more value. Maybe this is one of the problems today — a lack of appreciation. Sitting there in that theater and watching a feature movie and a couple of cartoons made my afternoon one of the most memorable days of the year. I wonder what makes our kids’ days memorable.

Join the 31 Club today for a riduculously low fee as we build our club. Join with like-minded 31 Club Members and put a turbo charge on your treasure hunting skills. Get FREE Mentoring. Learn Inside the Industry Secrets. Learn to make high profits and continue to grow your money buying and selling antiques, fine art, and collectibles. My 220 page book, “31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles” is FREE with your membership. The book is also available on Amazon.com. If you buy the book on Amazon, then the membership is FREE.

Visit our Website at www.31corp.com

Link:

http://animationartgallery.com/

This week in the Comic Speculator I’m taking a look at the legendary work of Alex Toth in the classic Zorro Dell Four Color comics. For more on Zorro’s latest comic series check out my other blog, This Week in Geek, where I discuss new comics that are destined to be tomorrow collectible back issues.

This past week Zorro made his triumphant return to comics in his latest adventure from Dynamite Comics reviving a beloved classic hero whose origins can be traced back to the pulp novels of the early 1900’s. Created by pulp writer Johnston McCaulley in 1919, the character of Zorro would become one of the most iconic swashbucklers in modern fiction and would inspire the creation of other many other masked avengers including The Lone Ranger, Batman, Green Arrow and the Phantom.

Zorro’s first appearance in comics wasn’t until 1949 in the pages of Dell Four Color #228 and guides for $375.00, shockingly low when compared to other books of the same time period. These old Dell Four Color series are next to impossible to find in very-good to near-mint conditions which makes their relatively low value shocking; most Zorro Dell books are valued at under $250.00 in excellent condition. It was the art of comics legend Alex Toth who would pencil the most famous Zorro images that make these classic books great and in my opinion, highly undervalued. Toth’s skill lied in his ink brush and his ability to bring life depth and motion with to stories that were boring at best. His use of grey-scale and black work rival that of most of the working comic artists today who rely on computer inking and coloring techniques. See above for examples of Alex Thoth’s work on Zorro.

For those of you who can’t drop upwards of $200.00 on a comic book, you’ll be happy to know that you can find most of these old Zorro books in poor condition (reader copies) at any comic shop with a decent back stock for under $10.00. Most of the old Dell Toth Zorro stories were reprinted in the pages of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories which are also hard to find in good shape and are valued considerably lower but seem to be readily available in poor condition. You can also find the collected Alex Toth Zorro stories reprinted in trade paperback in The Complete Classic Adventures of Zorro from Image Comics, 2001.