Tyrus Wong
Tyrus Wong | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Chinese American |
| Known for | film, mural, painting |
| Notable work | Bambi |
| Awards | CAM Historymakers Award |
Tyrus Wong (Chinese: 黃齊耀; pinyin: Huáng Qíyào; Cantonese Yale: Wong Chaiyiu; born October 25, 1910) is a painter, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer, designer and kite maker. As film production illustrator in the film industry, Wong has worked for Disney and Warner Bros.. Wong's most famous work was for the Disney animated classic, Bambi. Wong lives in Sunland, California.
Early life
Wong was born in Taishan, Guangdong, China in 1910. In 1919, he and his father emigrated to the United States, and never again came into contact with Wong's mother and sister. Although they initially came to Sacramento, his father decided to move to Los Angeles. While attending Benjamin Franklin Junior High in Pasadena, his teachers noticed Wong's artistic ability and arranged for a summer scholarship at the Otis Art Institute. Wong was hooked and decided to leave junior high for a full time studentship at Otis, where he graduated in 1930. Since his family was poor, he worked as a janitor at this school and walked for miles just to attend classes. It paid off as Wong had a lucrative career as an artist in Hollywood.
He was married to Ruth Ng Kim Wong (黃伍梅珍). He considers his three daughters, Kim (born 1938), Tai-ling (born 1941), and Kay (born 1946) as his "greatest achievements."[1]
Career
He has done everything from working as a greeting card designer to Warner Bros. film production illustrator (1942-1968), from drawing set designs and storyboard for several movies to being a Disney inspirational sketch artist (1938-1941). It was his lush pastels that served as inspiration for Bambi (1942) where he was the lead artist of the project.
Tyrus Wong left Disney studios shortly after finishing Bambi, due to repercussions from the Disney animators' strike. Later, he has designed Christmas cards, where some have sold over 1 million copies.
Some of his well known paintings include Self Portrait (late 1920s), Fire (1939), Reclining Nude (1940s), East (1984) and West (1984). He told an interviewer that he's a "lucky artist."
Later life
"Tyrus Wong: A Retrospective" was an exhibit at the Chinese American Museum (December 18, 2004 – October 17, 2004) in Los Angeles showcasing his work. According to the museum, "This exhibit showcased the works of Tyrus Wong, who at the age of 93, is one of the earliest and most influential Chinese American artists in the United States. In his long, pioneering career as a local artist, Wong is a seasoned painter, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer, designer, and kite maker. The exhibit also featured Wong’s imaginative kites, which he has been building and flying for the past 30 years. Drawn from public and private collections, several of the pieces chosen for this exhibition have not been shown publicly since the 1930s."[2]
During 2001, Wong was given a Historymakers Award (arts) by the Chinese American Museum and was inducted in the Disney Legends.
After retiring in 1968, Wong has been making kites for many years, and he would fly his colorful kites, such as a "panda", a "goldfish" or a "centipede", by the Santa Monica pier on a Saturday to the delights of many[3].
In 2007, Wong was one of three illustrators featured in “The Art of the Motion Picture Illustrator: William B. Major, Harold Michelson and Tyrus Wong,” an exhibit in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences's Grand Lobby Gallery in Beverly Hills.
References
- ^ "About Tyrus Wong". Cape Cod Films. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
- ^ Past exhibits, Chinese American Museum
- ^ Fly away art - Los Angeles Business Journal, Jan 28, 2002 by Claudia Peschiutta: The Roving Eye - kite-maker, Tyrus Wong