Animazing Gallery

Profile

In a large, light-filled space in Soho, Animazing Gallery showcases a colorful and whimsical collection of limited-edition and original animation, illustration, and fine art depicting beloved characters from print and screen. Owner Heidi Leigh, who has a degree in fine arts and serves on the board of directors for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, opened the gallery in 1984 in Westchester, later moving it to Manhattan and bringing in her husband, Nick Leone, formerly the Gallery Director of the New York Warner Brothers Studio Store. Exhibitions rotate about eight times per year and include concept paintings, storyboards, and animation drawings. On display are well-known American masters like Tim Burton and Maurice Sendak, as well as less recognizable names like surrealist watercolorist and sculptor Daniel Merriam, and Tom Everhart, who's shown his "Peanuts" drawings, authorized by Charles Schulz, at the Louvre. In 2005, the owners also bought the historic Château de Belcastel in southern France and outfitted it with galleries (open April to November) that introduce difficult-to-translate works (like Dr. Seuss) to a country that loves cartoons. — Caroline Kinneberg