One of the most famous of Chuck Jones (and definitely the most complicated short animated cartoon he directed) is his 1957 “What’s Opera, Doc?”  Jones, along with the immensely talented Maurice Noble and his crew of brilliant animators, created a cartoon that is both spoof of and love-letter to “high art.” With its primary action the oft-used Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd chase sequence, but this time, set in the mythic grandeur of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, “What’s Opera, Doc?” manages to combine high and low art with equal aplomb, obliterating the barriers between the two.

Original color model drawing for the production (graphite and colored pencil on animation paper), utilized in 2007 as the basis for a limited edition fine art print on paper.