Every so often, if one’s quick enough to recognize the opportunity, a situation can come along that will change your life and perhaps even history forever. The trick, however, is spotting that opportunity. When Guthrie Courvoisier became president of his father’s art galleries, his forward thinking sky rocketed the business into a mass market for original art work created by animation mastermind, Walt Disney.

Courvoisier was quick in recognizing that Disney film merchandise contained all the right ingredients to be transformed into a huge collecting commodity. He sought and attained an agreement with Walt Disney and his brother to market the production art that was created for Disney’s first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as fine art products. Courvoisier stood by the assumption that these production pieces, if marketed correctly, would eventually become a huge sensation among Disney and art collectors alike.

It began with a written agreement in 1938 between Walt Disney and Courvoisier, granting him the exclusive rights to market and sell original Disney art, beginning with about 7,000 cels from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Courvoisier test marketed the selling prices of the cels ranging anywhere from $5 to $75. He exhibited the cels at a number of art galleries, including the Julien Levy Galleries in New York City, the Leicester Galleries in London, and the Charles Sessler Galleries in Philidelphia. Some cels that were sold at the Sessler Galleries became part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Whitney’s Museum of Modern Art collections. The successful sales of this artwork was a huge achievement for Courvoisier because it proved that Disney original art work could be sold in the fine art market without fault.

Courvoisier remained the sole source of supplying Disney art for eight years. It wasn’t until 1946 that both Disney and Courvoisier agreed to allow Disney Productions take over the marketing of their artwork. However, if it weren’t for the magnificent foresight of Guthrie Courvoisier, animation cels from Disney’s beloved classics may have ended up as nothing more than trash to be thrown away, instead of family heirlooms passed down through the generations.