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This original production drawing presents Alice during one of the most memorable encounters in Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951), as she searches for the White Rabbit and finds herself confronted with the mysterious Cheshire Cat. Alice is shown in a graceful three-quarter pose, her body turned slightly away while her head and wide eyes look toward something just beyond the frame. Her expression conveys a mixture of curiosity, uncertainty, and determination. Her left hand hangs naturally at her side, while the sweeping shape of her skirt gives the drawing a pleasing sense of movement. The simplicity of the graphite and brown-pencil lines beautifully captures Alice’s youthful appearance while retaining the delicate, refined quality of her final animated design.
The scene occurs as Alice continues her search for the White Rabbit after becoming increasingly lost in Wonderland. When the Cheshire Cat appears, Alice naturally turns to him for guidance. She explains her predicament, telling him, “I’m looking for the White Rabbit.” The Cat responds in his characteristically cryptic fashion, leading Alice into another of Wonderland’s bewildering conversations. Alice’s frustration is apparent when she tries to make sense of his directions, while the Cheshire Cat seems perfectly comfortable with the fact that nothing in Wonderland makes ordinary sense. His famous observation, “We’re all mad here,” perfectly captures the strange world Alice has entered. The drawing’s alert expression is particularly appropriate for this moment, as Alice is attentive to the mysterious figure addressing her while still trying to determine which way the White Rabbit has gone.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) was the 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Disney substantially reworked Carroll’s story for animation, shaping the many episodes and characters into a film aimed at a younger audience and a manageable running time of only 75 minutes. The Cheshire Cat sequence is an excellent example of how Disney could preserve the eccentric spirit of Carroll’s writing while translating it into a visually distinctive animated sequence. Alice’s search for the White Rabbit becomes a continuing thread that carries her from one increasingly unusual encounter to the next.
The voice and physical performance behind Alice were provided by Kathryn Beaumont, who was born in London, England. She was only 10 years old when she was chosen to provide Alice’s voice. Walt Disney personally selected Beaumont after seeing her in On an Island with You, where she had a small role. Disney was sufficiently impressed that Beaumont was also used as the live-action model for Alice, giving the animators a reference for the character’s movements, expressions, and mannerisms. Beaumont would later provide the voice of Wendy in Peter Pan (1953), making her the voice of two of Disney’s most beloved young heroines. She reprised Alice in two episodes of Disney’s House of Mouse and portrayed both Alice and Wendy in the Kingdom Hearts video-game series. Beaumont continued performing these roles until 2005, when Hynden Walch took over the voices of the characters.
The development of Alice’s appearance was a collaborative effort. Mary Blair established important aspects of the character’s visual design during the storyboard phase, while Les Clark also contributed to her early development. Alice was subsequently animated by several of Disney’s leading animators, including Ollie Johnston, Don Lusk, and Marc Davis, who animated Alice for the famous Mad Tea Party sequence. This drawing is especially significant because it is the work of Don Lusk, who supervised Alice’s animation for this particular scene. The combination of brown and graphite pencil gives the drawing a wonderfully understated appearance, allowing the delicate construction of Alice’s face, hair, clothing, and pose to remain clearly visible.
Don Lusk was a veteran of The Walt Disney Studios, having joined the studio in the 1930s. His remarkable career encompassed some of Disney’s most important animated productions. He worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(1937), animated Donald Duck shorts, and served as principal animator of Cleo and Figaro in Pinocchio (1940). His credits also included the Arabian Dance in Fantasia (1940), the Great Stag in Bambi (1942), and work on Disney features continuing through One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Lusk ultimately lived to the age of 105, passing away in 2018.
As a piece of original Disney animation art, this drawing is particularly appealing because it captures Alice in a quiet moment of character acting rather than in an exaggerated action pose. Her wide eyes, slightly parted lips, tilted head, and attentive posture communicate the bewilderment of a young girl trying to make sense of Wonderland. At the same time, the confident, economical pencil work demonstrates how much personality Disney’s animators could convey through a few carefully placed lines. It is a wonderful example of Don Lusk’s contribution to Alice in Wonderland and of the painstaking animation process that transformed Kathryn Beaumont’s performance into the unforgettable Alice seen on screen.
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