Tyrus Wong

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Full Name:

Tyrus Wong

Occupation / Title:

Date of birth:

1910

Date of death:

2016

Birthplace:

Guangzhou, China

Biography


The recently deceased Tyrus Wong was an incredible landscape artist, he worked as a storyboard staff artist for Hollywood studios in the 1930’s to 60’s. Wong will be remembered for his work on Bambi, and was named a Disney Legend in 2001. 

Family and early life


Tyrus Wong was born in Guangdong, China, eventually moving to the United States at age 9 along with father, losing touch with his mother and sister in the process. Having to illegally immigrate due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of the 1920’s, Wong and his father eventually settled in Sacramento, and later Los Angeles.

Career outline


Mr. Wong worked for the Works Progress Administration, creating murals for public spaces from 1936-38. He eventually joined Disney in the late 1930’s, starting out as an in-betweener. Suffering from the racial discrimination at the time, Tyrus was treated as a novelty at Disney, and later Warner Brothers’ Studios. 

Landing his break by presenting exquisite landscape paintings inspired by the Song dynasty, Tyrus pitched his landscape images, made in vibrant pastel watercolours to Disney, promoted to be the inspirational sketch artist behind the Bambi project. 




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