Back to Our Collection Back to Featured in Our Collection Back to Artists Back to Artist Back to Featured Artists 
Tyrus Wong
East and West
1984
Oil on canvas
47.5 x 84 in. (each)
A Hollywood studio artist, painter, printmaker, calligrapher, greeting-card illustrator and, in later years, maker of fantastical kites, Tyrus Wong (b. 1910, China; d. 2016, Los Angeles) is one of the most celebrated Chinese-American artists of the 20th century. Today he most renowned as the visionary illustrator on Disney's 1942 animated classic “Bambi.” Taking inspiration from classical artwork of the Song dynasty (A.D. 960–1279), Wong departed from the lavishly detailed backgrounds of Disney’s earlier films, instead using stark brushwork and splashes of color to imbue the film with a powerful and atmospheric sense of emotion.
Born in China and trained as a painter at Otis Institute of Art (Los Angeles), Wong was a leading figure in the Modernist movement that flourished in California between the first and second World Wars. In 1932 and again in 1934, his artwork was included in group shows at the Art Institute of Chicago that also featured Picasso, Matisse and Paul Klee.
In 2001, Wong was named a Disney Legend, an honor bestowed by the Walt Disney Company for outstanding contributions. In 2003, a retrospective of his artwork was the inaugural exhibition at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, and in 2014, he was given a retrospective at The Disney Family Museum, titled “Water to Paper, Paint to Sky,” that traveled to the Museum of Chinese in America in Lower Manhattan. His artwork has also been exhibited across Southern California at the Hammer Museum; the Vincent Price Museum; and the Craft and Folk Art Museum.
The influential Hollywood studio artist Tyrus Wong remains one most celebrated Chinese-American artists of the 20th century, especially renowned as the visionary illustrator on Disney's 1942 animated classic “Bambi.” Read more
Born in China and trained as a painter at Otis Institute of Art (Los Angeles), Wong was a leading figure in the Modernist movement that flourished in California between the first and second World Wars. In 1932 and again in 1934, his artwork was included in group shows at the Art Institute of Chicago that also featured Picasso, Matisse and Paul Klee.
In 2001, Wong was named a Disney Legend, an honor bestowed by the Walt Disney Company for outstanding contributions. In 2003, a retrospective of his artwork was the inaugural exhibition at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, and in 2014, he was given a retrospective at The Disney Family Museum, titled “Water to Paper, Paint to Sky,” that traveled to the Museum of Chinese in America in Lower Manhattan. His artwork has also been exhibited across Southern California at the Hammer Museum; the Vincent Price Museum; and the Craft and Folk Art Museum.
The influential Hollywood studio artist Tyrus Wong remains one most celebrated Chinese-American artists of the 20th century, especially renowned as the visionary illustrator on Disney's 1942 animated classic “Bambi.” Read more
Loading