Read here for 2014 OCA Announcement for 2014 Pioneer and Outstanding Citizen Achievement Honorees
20 June 2014
Kendall Kosai
Tyrus Wong – Painter, muralist, lithographer, film production illustrator and kite maker, Tyrus Wong was born in Guangzhou, China in 1910. At age nine he left China for the United States. Upon his arrival he spent nearly a month at the Angel Island Immigration Station before joining his father in Sacramento.
As a young teen he moved to Los Angeles’ Chinatown. While attending Benjamin Franklin Junior High his artistic talents were recognized and he was recommended for a summer scholarship at Otis Art Institute. After completing the summer scholarship he knew at this young age that art was the only thing he wanted to do. Wisely his father supported his artistic endeavors and scraped together the $95 tuition needed for his first term at Otis.
Wong was awarded subsequent scholarships and graduated from Otis with top honors. In 1937 Wong married Ruth Kimm and their first daughter was born a year later. Needing to provide for his family he took a job at Disney Studios working as an in-betweener. Not liking this tedious work and hearing that Disney had plans to produce “Bambi”, he put together a portfolio consisting of tiny sketches of deer in the forest. His talents as a landscape painter were immediately recognized and he was promoted to establish the look and style for Disney’s classic “Bambi”. His lush backgrounds inspired by Chinese traditional ink-and-brush work conveyed the simplicity that Walt Disney had been searching for. Wong illustrated the feeling of the forest rather than indicating every leaf and detail.
Wong later moved on to Warner Bros. where he worked for over thirty years as pre-production artist on many live-action films including, “Rebel Without a Cause”, “Harper”, and “The Wild Bunch”. He also successfully applied his talents to designing his signature line of Christmas cards which meld his Oriental style painting with his Western experience. He also illustrated books and numerous magazines including L.A. Times Home and Readers Digest. Wong still managed to find time for painting and his work is still exhibited at museums and fine art galleries nationwide. Upon his retirement he rediscovered a childhood joy…flying kites. Wong designs and makes by hand all of his kites, some more than a hundred feet long.
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national organization of community advocates dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs).
