Warner Brothers Animation Art

Founded in 1933 as Leon Schlesinger Productions, Warner Brothers first produced the shows, “Merrie Melodies” and “Looney Toons,” with the help of former Disney artists Rudolf Ising and Hugh Harman. After Ising and Harman left for MGM, Warner Brothers hired artists who’d create some of history’s most well-known cartoon characters, like Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Foghorn Leghorn.

From these creations, decades of television shows and feature films were produced, with “The Bugs Bunny Show” becoming the longest-running Saturday morning children’s series in history. Although “Looney Tunes” shows ended in the mid-1960s, interest in the characters continued, prompting the production of more Looney Tunes-based films across the rest of the 20th century.

Known as one of the most successful U.S. animation studios, Warner Brothers created dozens of beloved characters across film and merchandising venues that are still popular today. Today, the company exists as Warner Brothers Animation, a division of Warner Brothers, and original animation cels from company artists tend to be highly sought-after by collectors.

Quick Facts

• In 1992, Congress inducted the seven-minute short film “What’s Opera, Doc?” into the National Film Registry. It is considered a film classic
• Chuck Jones, one of Warner Brothers’ most renowned artists and directors, created many of the company’s classic characters, including Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Road Runner, and Toro the Bull
• A production cel of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd from the film short “What’s Opera, Doc?” gathered $26,680 on an April 2015 Heritage Auctions sale