PETER ELLENSHAW
(1913-2007), whose artistic career spanned more than seven decades, was considered the premier seascape and landscape artist of his generation. He worked with many acclaimed filmmakers including Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick, Michael Powell and W. Percy Day. He was an Academy Award® winning special effects artist, a motion picture production designer, a concept illustrator and an official 'Disney Legend.'

Born in London, England in 1913, Ellenshaw was fortunate enough in his early twenties to get a job as an apprentice to W. Percy Day, O.B.E., the British film industry’s foremost special effects artist and matte painter. Matte shots are realistic paintings done on glass of extended sets or fantasy locations which are combined with scenes of actors in real sets. Day, the Royal Academy trained artist, took Peter Ellenshaw under his wing, working on such classics as Things to Come, The Thief of Baghdad and Black Narcissus.

After serving in the Second World War as a pilot for the Royal Air Force, Peter returned to the film industry as a matte artist for MGM's Quo Vadis. In the late 1940s Walt Disney approached Ellenshaw to work on the studio's first live action feature, Treasure Island. Thus began a professional collaboration and friendship which lasted over 30 years and 34 films.

In 1953, Peter and his family moved to California and Ellenshaw found himself expanding upon his matte painting work to contribute to the dramatic and spectacular special effects on Disney's epic film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The Walt Disney Studio was also in the pre-planning stages for Disneyland. Ellenshaw contributed his artistic touch to many of the attractions at the new theme park, including the first Circlevision theater show, TWA's Rocket Ship to the Moon and X-1 Satellite View of America.

It was in the 50s that Peter fell in love with the ocean and would spend weekends painting the picturesque coves and crashing waves along the California coast. He developed a reputation as a fine art painter whose oils soon became highly sought after by collectors. He also began a lifelong association with the prestigious Hammer Galleries in New York.

In 1960 Ellenshaw did a matte painting of Rome for Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, while continuing to work full time for Disney studios. Peter contributed to the popular television show 'Disneyland' with work on Davy Crockett and Zorro, as well as classic Disney features including Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Mary Poppins and The Love Bug. For Mary Poppins Peter won an Oscar® for Best Special Visual Effects on the landmark film. He has also been nominated for an Academy Award® an additional three times; for his production design work on Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Island at the Top of the World as well as for his effects work on The Black Hole.

In 1970 Peter and his wife, Bobbie, moved to the Ring of Kerry in Ireland and it was there that Ellenshaw created some of his most spectacular artwork: paintings of the rugged Irish coast and the beautiful landscapes of the Emerald Isle. His works were shown at a special exhibition at the American Embassy in Dublin. Today a number of his paintings can be seen in collections throughout Ireland including Adare Manor, Dromoland Castle, Waterville House and Ashford Castle.

Continued travels took Ellenshaw to many spectacular locales where he expanded his subjects to include the Himalayas, Monet's garden at Giverny, the Mojave desert, San Francisco and New York cityscapes, America's Cup yachting, and famous golf courses throughout the world.

In 1993, Peter Ellenshaw was officially designated a 'Disney Legend' at the Walt Disney Studios in a ceremony presided over by CEO Michael Eisner and Roy E. Disney. It was shortly thereafter that he was commissioned to do paintings of scenes from famous Disney features, many of which have been made into the wonderful giclées that you see here at our website.

In February of 2007, Peter passed away peacefully at his home in Santa Barbara, California. He was 93 years of age.

HARRISON ELLENSHAW joined Walt Disney Studios as a matte artist, moonlighted to render a number of paintings for Star Wars, and then oversaw the matte department on The Empire Strikes Back at George Lucas' premier effects facility Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Later, upon his return to Disney in 1989 for Dick Tracy, Harrison headed Disney Studios' own highly regarded effects facility: Buena Vista Visual Effects (BVVE). He has been nominated for an Academy Award® along with his father, Peter Ellenshaw, for special visual effects work on The Black Hole.

But American born Harrison Ellenshaw was initially reluctant to follow in the illustrious footsteps of his famous Academy Award® winning (for Mary Poppins) father. In fact, with a degree in psychology from Whittier College and following a stint as an officer in the Navy, Ellenshaw was preparing himself for a career in corporate administration when his father suggested taking a temporary position in the matte department at Walt Disney Studios.

Under the mentorship of another Oscar® winning artist, Alan Maley, Ellenshaw soon began to establish himself as a respected matte artist. He then struck out on his own doing effects work on Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth. That led to a very fortuitous assignment… Star Wars. After contributing to the most famous science fiction movie ever made, Ellenshaw returned to Disney to collaborate with his father on The Black Hole, a film known more for its production design and special effects than for its story.

Ellenshaw's star was fast rising as he rejoined Lucasfilm in Northern California to contribute to George Lucas' highly anticipated sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Then, again returning to Disney, Harrison was supervising the re-editing and new effects for a revamped suspense film starring Bette Davis, The Watcher in the Woods, when he was approached by the producers of another highly speculative science fiction film. That film was Tron and Ellenshaw was one of the key creative forces behind what has become a landmark use of the then revolutionary digital technology computer-generated imagery (CGI) used to create a highly visual world inside a computer.

Other notable projects followed: a 3-D theme park film by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, Captain Eo; the effects laden Superman IV and the blockbuster film Ghost. Harrison also found time to direct an independent feature length comedy, Dead Silence. The film received positive reviews and was a standout hit on the festival circuit. Another benchmark film followed. This time it was a movie known for visually stunning cityscapes, Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy. As a result of Ellenshaw's successful work on this film, Disney asked him to head up a new effects facility independently based on the Burbank studio lot. During its six year tenure, Buena Vista Visual Effects became highly regarded throughout the industry contributing to over 40 films including work for outside studios: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, MGM and Sony. Notable examples of BVVE films were: Dave, Honey I Blew Up the Kid, The Santa Clause, James and the Giant Peach, The Phantom, Mortal Kombat, Escape from LA and The Pelican Brief. Harrison also supervised the first all digital restoration of a feature length film, Disney's classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In tandem to his film work, Harrison has also been able to concentrate on a fine art career, producing one man shows for several galleries. And in 2002, he began collaborating with his father creating a number of spectacular Disney giclées.

Today he continues to create his own Disney giclées in addition to fine art paintings of unique cityscapes, the landscapes of New Zealand, the American Southwest, as well as scenes from England, France and Asia. Presently he is developing a feature film, "Distorted Frequencies" in addition to producing a documentary about another legendary visual effects artist: his grandfather, W. Percy Day, O.B.E.

Harrison has an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and a founding board member of the Visual Effects Society (VES).