Introduction
Tyrus Wong was a Chinese-born American artist, most famously known for his work on the Disney animated classic, Bambi.
A multi-talented person, he was a painter, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer, designer and kite maker. Professionally, he was a film production illustrator, and worked for Disney and Warner Brothers.
Early life and education
Wong was born on October 25, 1910, in Taishan, Guangdong, China.
He and his father emigrated to the United States in 1920. Wong was held on Angel Island initially, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. They first settled in Sacramento, California, and then moved to Los Angeles, California.
Wong attended Benjamin Franklin Junior High in Pasadena, California. His artistic talent was noted by his teachers, and he received a summer scholarship at the Otis College of Art and Design (then Otis Art Institute,) in Los Angeles. His passion and love for art made him leave junior high, and enroll at Otis as a full-time student. At the time, to help his father, Wong also worked as a janitor at Otis.
He graduated from Otis in the 1930s.
Career
After leaving Otis, while exhibiting artworks around Los Angeles, he began working in the film industry as a production illustrator.
From 1938 to 1941, he worked as a sketch artist for Disney. His eastern influenced paintings caught the eye of Walt Disney and became the inspiration for the classic animated film Bambi (1942.)
From 1942, until his retirement in 1968, Wong worked as a film production illustrator for Warner Bros, where his striking storyboards and set illustrations helped set the tone and drama for films such as The Sands of Iwo Jima, Rebel Without a Cause, Harper and The Wild Bunch.
He also worked as a greeting card designer for Hallmark and other companies.
Wong was the subject of the 2015 documentary TYRUS, a feature-length film about his life and enduring impact.
Personal life
Wong enjoyed flying kites in his retirement. He continued to create kites and spend his free time flying his creations on the Santa Monica Pier.
He was married to Ruth Ng Kim, a second-generation Chinese American lawyer from Bakersfield, California. Ruth became a homemaker after the marriage. Together they had three children. Ruth died in 1995.
Wong died on December 30, 2016. He was 106 years old.
Awards and accolades
Wong won several awards in his career.
His work has been shown in the Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan, New York, the Walt Disney Family Museum, and at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences among others.
In 2001, he was given a Historymakers Award in arts by the Chinese American Museum and was inducted as a Disney Legend.
In 2012, his work was featured in the "Round the Clock: Chinese American Artists Working in Los Angeles" exhibit at Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College.
The next year, his work was exhibited at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California in a career retrospective entitled: Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art Of Tyrus Wong.
Works
Selected well-known paintings:
- Self Portrait (late 1920s)
- Fire (1939)
- Reclining Nude (1940s)
- East (1984)
- West (1984)