Mary Blair, animator and an imaginative stylist of Walt Disney Studios was born 100 years ago. Over almost 30 years in the Studio Blair created characters of well-known animation works, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan among them.

"Mary was the first artist I knew of to have different shades of red next to each other. You just didn't do that! But Mary made it work," said Animator Frank Thomas.

According to the animator Marc Davis, Blair “brought modern art to Walt [Disney] in a way that no one else did." For the way she painted, for her fresh, childlike art style Blair was called a little girl-animator.

Blair began her career in 1933, when after graduation she took a job in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, seven years later, in 1940, she joined the Walt Disney Studios to work with a legendary man, who, just like her, could directly communicate with children through the art.

Besides dozen of animation films, Blair also contributed to the design of many exhibits, attractions, and theme parks in California and Florida, including the murals in the Grand Canyon Concourse at the Contemporary Hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort.