THE HUSBAND-AND-WIFE COLLABORATORS AMASSED A REMARKABLE COLLECTION OF CONCEPT DRAWINGS, FINE ART, AND TRIBAL ARTIFACTS
By Christina Rees | October 21, 2025
Great collectors keep themselves primed for the appearance of a Holy Grail, and in the Disney universe, significant works by the original animation and concept artists from Disney’s Golden Age fill that role. Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men” – the studio’s radically gifted core animators of the 1920s through the ’80s – brought us the apex of American storytelling and animation and set in motion the juggernaut Disney is today. One of the original Nine, California native Marc Davis (1913-2000) got his start on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1935 and went on to develop and animate some of the studio’s most iconic characters, including Tinker Bell, Maleficent, Aurora, and Cruella de Vil. The Disney Legend’s works are complex, good-natured, and some of the most collectible in Disney’s history. His later work on Disneyland and Walt Disney World brought to the growing parks the humor and light touch so needed to delight entire generations with an indelible Disney flair.
Marc’s mutitalented wife and collaborator, Alice Davis (1929-2022) – also an official Disney Legend – was responsible for the meticulous and memorable costume designs for park attractions, among them Pirates of the Caribbean, Flight to the Moon, and It’s a Small World. As a couple in Los Angeles, Marc and Alice were generous hosts and mentors, and their collection of their own artworks makes up one of the most desirable troves of Disney material ever imagined.
This ‘Celebrating Marc Davis’ limited-edition cel is a tribute to the legendary Disney animator, featuring a collection of his most beloved characters surrounding a photo of Davis with Walt Disney himself. The piece is one of nearly 300 lots from the Marc and Alice Davis Archive offered in Heritage’s November 7-10 Celebrating 70 Years of Disneyland auction.
In 1964, Disney Legend Alice Davis was tasked with designing costumes for more than 150 countries for the It’s a Small World attraction at the New York World’s Fair. This rare group of charming model sheet prints available in Heritage’s November 7-10 Celebrating 70 Years of Disneyland auction features her designs for South America, Central America, and Bolivia, with extensive notes about the costume colors and materials.
“When you went to their house, there was all of this artwork – wall to wall,” says Andreas Deja, supervising animator for the most memorable villains from Disney’s spectacular Renaissance – including Jafar from Aladdin, Scar from The Lion King, and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. “It is such a great collection; it’s hard not to feel emotional.” Deja, who is also the principal animator of Mickey Mouse and the author of the authoritative book The Nine Old Men, counted the couple as close friends. “Marc considered himself an artist first,” he says. “He would work for the studio Monday through Friday, and then on the weekends, he would make his own work. He was the only one [of the Disney animators] doing that.”
Last April, Heritage Auctions introduced the Davis collection to the public for the first time in a sweeping four-day event. Now Heritage is offering Part II of the couple’s archive in its November 7-10 Celebrating 70 Years of Disneyland auction. Among the event’s highlights are nearly 300 lots from the Marc and Alice Davis Archive, including concept artworks, Marc’s original paintings, Alice’s model sheets for It’s a Small World, and more than 80 pieces from the couple’s extensive collection of Papua New Guinea art and artifacts.
A quartet of drunken geese are the subjects of this 1972 exploratory drawing Marc Davis prepared for the America Sings attraction at Disneyland.
A rare ghost concept drawing Marc Davis created in 1964 for the Haunted Mansion. Ultimately, these stylized and ethereal designs became characters that appeared throughout the popular Disneyland attraction.
A generous portion of the Heritage auction is devoted to Marc’s career with Walt Disney Imagineering, the subsidiary responsible for creating and constructing Disney theme parks and attractions. Marc was one of the first designers to contribute to the making of Disneyland, and the auction features more than 100 concept drawings from his time in Imagineering, including original concept art for Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, America Sings, and other attractions.
In this circa 1959 painting, Marc Davis captures a performer juggling the cosmos. Rendered in oil on canvas, the piece is an excellent study of color and surrealism.
Marc Davis’ 1951 oil painting ‘Ishmael and the Harpoon Thrower’ depicts a scene from ‘Moby Dick.’ The 26-by-23-inch piece is a published original, as Davis hand-selected it to be included in his Marc Davis Fine Art Program. Thirty-six signed fine art giclées were created from this painting for galleries and museums, making it a highly coveted original work.
While Marc was known for creating some of the greatest stories and characters in Disney history, he was also a masterful fine artist, as evidenced by his original drawings and paintings featured in Heritage’s November auction. The offerings showcase some of the artist’s favorite subjects, including bullfighting, musicians and performers, Greek mythology, anatomy studies, animal drawings, and the people and places of Papua New Guinea. One of the standout works is a large, impressionistic masterpiece in oil on board inspired by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Titled Ishmael and the Harpoon Thrower, the 1951 painting was displayed in the Davis home for many years.
Inspired by his trips to Papua New Guinea, Marc Davis’ ink-and-watercolor ‘Tanganimbit Welcoming Flutes’ (circa 1970s) showcases his talent for color, detail, pattern, and texture.
This group of hand-carved ancestral figures comes from the Davises’ personal collection of art and artifacts from the Indigenous tribes of Papua New Guinea.
The auction also features an extensive collection of Marc’s original art inspired by Papua New Guinea. In the 1970s, around the time Marc retired from Walt Disney Studios, he and Alice began taking trips to the Middle Sepik River region of the Oceanic country, where they collected a variety of tribal art and artifacts, including hand-carved ancestral figures and masks, Yipwon spirit figures, Gope boards, pottery, jewelry, and more. During the couple’s travels, Marc would also sketch and paint the Indigenous peoples who hosted them, resulting in what many consider some of the best paintings of his career.
“If Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, I believe this auction may be the happiest auction on earth,” says Jim Lentz, Heritage’s Vice President of Animation and Anime Art. “I had the sheer honor and joy to host Marc and Alice Davis to the Midwest Animation Lecture Series in Chicagoland in 1992. It was the first time I met this beautiful couple. I consider curating this magnificent collection one of my personal career highlights.”
