Mickey Mouse at 90: Sketches and images from the Disney character who changed the world

Mickey Mouse has left an indelible mark on everyday culture, as a sumptuous new collection dedicated to Walt Disney’s most famous creation illustrates

A portrait painted by John Hench in 1953 to mark the mouse’s 25th birthday (Disney Enterprises, Inc.)

On 18 November 1928, the world’s most famous mouse made his public debut.

Today, we celebrate 90 years of Mickey Mouse. Starting with the first sketches of a character who was almost named Mortimer, the career of Walt Disney’s and Ub Iwerks’s most famous creation was met with an explosion of worldwide popularity, the like of which had hitherto only been matched by the films of Charlie Chaplin.

Taschen’s ​Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History includes vast historical collections as well as public and private offerings that bring Mickey’s success story to life: concept art, story sketches, background paintings and animation drawings as well as historical photographs tracing the origins and evolution of such timeless favourites as Steamboat Willie, The Band Concert and Brave Little Tailor.

Unfinished projects, many of them presented for the first time through original storyboard drawings, unveil a Mickey that might have been.

Extensive archival research sheds new light on little-known chapters of Mickey’s career, such as his pioneering radio shows, the origins of the Mickey Mouse Club and his use as a patriotic icon during the Second World War.

Mickey Mouse has left an indelible mark on everyday culture as well as high art, becoming a favoured subject for pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Roy Lichtenstein.

As Walt Disney once said: “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.”

And an end to the success story is nowhere in sight. Today, 90 years after his creation, Mickey remains as lovable and popular as ever.

You can purchase ‘Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History​​​’, published by Taschen, here