Mary Robinson Blair (1911-1979)

Born: McAllister, Oklahoma; Studied: San Jose State College (California), Chouinard Art Institute (Los Angeles); Member: California Water Color Society.

Mary Blair came to California when she was seven years old. She attended college in San Jose and then art school in Los Angeles, where she took instruction from Pruett Carter. Throughout the 1930s, Mary Blair painted and exhibited watercolors depicting Regional subjects and worked full time as a color stylist and designer for the Walt Disney Studios. Mary also produced tile murals for Disneyland and Disney World and designed several of their rides.

After World War II, Mary Blair and her husband, Lee Blair, settled in New York where she developed a highly successful commercial art business producing magazine covers, children's book illustrations and theatrical stage settings.

Biographical information on Mary Blair: Interview with Lee Blair, 1983 (husband of Mary Blair)

Mary Blair bio courtesy California Watercolors 1850-1970, ©2002 Hillcrest Press, Inc.