Paul Jouve was a French painter, sculptor and animal artist.
I first noticed his work while browsing through clip files at the Disney Studio library many years ago. But there were only a few samples of some of his animal art.
There seemed to be no major publication on his life's work until 2005.
When I found out about it I immediately ordered it from France.
The book is titled "Paul Jouve, Peintre, Sculpteur, Animalier" , written by Felix Marcilhac, published by Les Editions de l'Amateur.
Well, an amateur Paul Jouve was not. He lived from 1878-1973.
He developed his distinctive, powerful style during the 1920ies, when Art Deco was a main artistic trend.
When I first saw these drawings and paintings of big cats I almost screamed:
"Where were you when I worked on Lion King???!!"
So much grace, beauty and power in these images. The cats are stunningly stylized, their anatomy simplified and their poses have such elegance to them.
I believe, had I known his work more before or during production of The Lion King, it would have had an influence on my animation of Scar.
Oh well....
By the way, Jouve depicted all kinds of animals during his long career. He did stunning illustrations for an edition of Kipling's "Jungle Book".
© Les Editions de l'Amateur
