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Animated movies began entertaining audiences in the early twentieth century and will continue to do so this spring and summer as the Academy Galleries present “Toon In: Animated Movie Posters from the Cudequest Family collection.” This new exhibition of more than 130 posters and lobby cards, but a fraction of the collection’s contents, illustrates the evolution of animated film from silent novelty to popular cultural art form.

The installation in the Academy’s Fourth Floor Gallery will focus on animation from the first half of the twentieth century, showcasing many beautifully illustrated stone lithographs from the silent era, as well as posters from animated features and popular cartoon series of the 1930s and 40s. Characters including Mutt and Jeff, Felix the Cat, Oswald the Rabbit and Mickey Mouse are just a few represented. The Fourth Floor Gallery also will feature several kid-friendly video viewing areas and art project stations.

The Academy’s Grand Lobby Gallery will feature posters for films from the 1950s until the present, including such titles as Yellow Submarine, Allegro Non Troppo and Ghost in the Shell. Posters for three recent Oscar-winning animated features, Shrek,Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, will serve as some the most recent examples of art in the collection.

Cudequest began acquiring posters from animated films in the 1990s when he walked into an animation gallery and bought the one-sheet poster for the 1947 Goofy short “Foul Hunting.” In just over ten years he collected more than 1500 one-sheets, three-sheets, six-sheets, banners, lobby cards, photographs and pressbooks from animated movies dating from the 1910s to the present day.

In addition to serving as a comprehensive historical record of how animation has evolved over the past century, the collection is also filled with unique examples of poster art – sometimes beautiful, sometimes humorous, always fascinating. The Cudequest Family Collection was donated to the Academy Margaret Herrick Library starting in December 2002; this exhibition is a celebration of one collector’s passion.