Joshua Meador Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1911 - d. 1975

Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Joshua Meador became a painter and animator in California. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1935 moved to California where until the 1960s, he lived in La Crescenta, and then moved to Casper in Northern California. He died there on August 24, 1964
from a massive heart attack caused by childhood congenital problems.
Although it has been rumored that Meador's paintings were purchased by Walt Disney and exhibited at Disneyland, this is untrue. Disney had purchased the paintings only while the artist was living, and Disney's collection of Meador paintings consisted of about 50 paintings, which were and are displayed at
the various homes of Disney's heirs. Recently about 16 of these canvases were returned by the Disney family to the family of the artist and were paintings that had hung at Meador's Palm Springs home at the Smoke Tree Ranch.
During his career as a special effect director, Meador worked for Disney Productions. His credits include SNOW WHITE, BAMBI, FANTASIA and PINNOCHIO as well as FORBIDDEN PLANET, in which he animated the Creature from the Id and all of the electrical effects for this release from MGM Pictures.
In his spare time, he pursued his talent for fine-art painting, and in 1946, began exhibiting his landscapes, harbor scenes, seascapes and city views. For many of his paintings, he used a palette knife, and a popular subject for him was the Mendocino Coast in Northern California.
After Meador's death, there were a couple of memorial one-man shows including one at Barnsdale Park in Los Angeles and one at the Conacher Galleries in San Francisco.