THEFIRSTLITHOGRAPHPAINTING

Carl Barks received two separate permits from The Walt Disney Company to paint the comic book characters from the duck universe. The first one ran from 1971 to 1976 and would have continued but an overzealous and thoughtless fan began distributing prints without permission, which caused Disney to terminate Barks' permit. It took several years to reverse this decision, but in 1982 Disney relented and gave Barks the rights to take up his duck oil painting artwork, but the settlement that was made between the two parties was that now all the new paintings would be subject to being published as lithographs or serigraphs in limited editions.
The first official painting from this new agreement was 123-81 Wanderers of Wonderlands. This is the story.

THE TITLE

The first painting to emerge as a lithograph was 123-81 Wanderers of Wonderlands, but the result was long undertaking. Actually, Barks had finished the painting in 1980 and coded it as 4-80 but with no official title. Barks simply booked it as Scrooge Montage, and the receipt to the buyer only read 'Oil painting 20x16 Disney ducks in composite scene'. So when it was later decided to use the painting as a lithograph, Barks was forced to re-code it and come up with a proper title.

Left: A scribbled down list of Barks' working titles for the first lithograph (and consequently the painting). Barks always had the talent of being able to invent a lot of potential titles for his paintings and this is one example. You can see another HERE.

THE PAINTING

Detailed sketch

(4-80) 123-81 Wanderers of Wonderlands

Technical: Size 16x20" (400x500mms). Painted in oil on canvas.

Motif: This is a free fantasy depicting the Duck family and Scrooge McDuck in a scene remindful of his adventure story in U$07 'Seven Cities of Cibola'. Notice the lurking presence of Magica de Spell and two of the Beagle Boys. Also, Barks added a Mayan pyramid from U$44 Crown of the Mayas, as well as a few Larkies from U$12 The Golden Fleecing. Still, the most ominous looking detail might be the large turquoise statue that rendered Cibola into ruins at the end of the story.

Sketch: This is one of the final sketches. Size 16x20" (400x500mms). Drawn with pen, pencil, and crayon on vellum. Notice that Barks made personal notes as for the scantily coloured gems in the foreground; from left to right they are Star Sapphire, Raw Turquoise, Gold Nugget, Raw Topaz, Raw Emerald, and Diamond.

Painting: As an exception the image is presented complete with its magnificent, ornate frame in order for you to obtain the best experience.

Lithograph: The lithograph was included in the limited edition luxury book Uncle Scrooge McDuck - His Life and Times published by Celestial Arts. Each of the 5,000 lithographs were hand-signed and numbered by Barks.

Prices: Initially, the untitled 4-80 painting sold for 3,000 dollars which was the going rate for Barks' artworks at the time. It was resold at an auction in 2008 at 119.500 dollars!

THE OTHER CIBOLAS

Before and after his first lithograph painting Barks made two more artworks featuring basically the same main motif (notice that Barks presumably forgot to add Scrooge's hat band on the early painting):

23-75 Golden Cities of Cibola

Size 16x20" (400x500mms).
Painted in oil on Masonite.
Initially, sold at 2,968 dollars and resold at 101,575 dollars in 2011.

133-87 First National Bank of Cibola

Size 20x25" (500x640mms).
This became the 10th painting lithograph in a series of 345.
Initially, sold at 22,500 dollars and resold at 95,600 dollars in 2011.

THE AFTERMATH

In 1982 came the first substantial book published about Barks' artwork. It consists of 11 Uncle Scrooge stories and a number of articles as well as a personally signed and numbered lithograph of the painting Wanderers of Wonderlands. Barks' 1968 story Go Slowly, Sands of Time! was also published for the first time ever!
In August 1982 Barks received the first royalty payment for the amount of 13,757 dollars, and in the following years more royalties trickled in amounting to a total of 29,205.58 dollars.

Left: The elaborate book Uncle Scrooge McDuck - His Life and Times.

During Barks' European tour in 1994 several of his oil paintings were exhibited in selected countries (Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy). Among the chosen artwork were 3 with lithograph background, namely 123-81 Wanderers of Wonderland, 125-83 An Embarrassment of Riches, and 131-86 Dam Disaster at Money Lake.

Left: Overall bird's eye view of part of the front hall in Denmark's National Museum featuring most of the exhibition that was displayed on stylized duck feet!

In 2016 the Italian artist Gilberto 'Gil' Ugolini (see more HERE) made an exact copy of the painting. It took him 100 hours partly because he had difficulties getting some of the colours and shades correct.

Left: Gil at work.