Chinese immigrant Tyrus Wong - a Disney legend & lead Bambi artist

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Kimi Wei <kimi () thewei com>
> Date: September 11, 2017 at 10:40:48 AM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Chinese immigrant Tyrus Wong - a Disney legend & lead Bambi artist
>
> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/tyrus-about-the-film/8917/
>
> Tyrus
>
> About the Film
> Premiere date: September 8, 2017
>
> People worldwide have seen the Disney animated classic Bambi and been deeply moved by it, but few can tell you the 
> name of the artist behind the film. Even fewer are aware of this pioneering artist’s impact on American art and 
> popular culture. Until his death at the age of 106, Tyrus Wong (1910-2016) was America’s oldest living Chinese 
> American artist and one of the last remaining artists from the golden age of Disney animation. The quiet beauty of 
> his Eastern-influenced paintings caught the eye of Walt Disney, who made Wong the inspirational sketch artist for 
> Bambi. Filmmaker Pamela Tom (A Tribute to Sir Sidney Poitier, Two Lies ) corrects a historical wrong by spotlighting 
> this seminal, but heretofore under-credited, figure in American Masters: Tyrus, premiering nationwide Friday, 
> September 8 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) in honor of the 75th anniversary of Bambi (August 1942). After 
> the film, in a new, exclusive interview, filmmakers/artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi discuss how Wong 
> influenced them and share an excerpt from their Oscar-nominated animated short The Dam Keeper (2014). This segment 
> and the documentary will be available to stream the following day via pbs.org/americanmasters and PBS OTT apps.
>
> Born in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, right before the fall of the Chinese Empire, Wong and his father immigrated to 
> America in 1919, never to see their family again. American Masters: Tyrus shows how he overcame a life of poverty and 
> racism to become a celebrated painter who once exhibited with Picasso and Matisse, a Hollywood sketch artist, and 
> ‘Disney Legend.’ Previously unseen art and interviews with Wong, movie clips and archival footage illustrate how his 
> unique style – melding Chinese calligraphic and landscape influences with contemporary Western art – is found in 
> everything from Disney animation (Bambi) and live-action Hollywood studio films (Rebel Without a Cause, The Wild 
> Bunch, Sands of Iwo Jima, April in Paris) to Hallmark Christmas cards, kites and hand-painted California dinnerware 
> to fine art and Depression-era WPA paintings. The film also features new interviews with his daughters and fellow 
> artists/designers, including his Disney co-worker and friend Milton Quon, Andreas Deja (The Little Mermaid), Eric 
> Goldberg (Aladdin) and Paul Felix (Lilo & Stitch), and curators and historians of Wong’s work.
>
> “Tyrus Wong’s story is a prime example of one of the many gaping holes in our society’s narrative on art, cinema, and 
> Western history,” said Pamela Tom. “By telling his story, I wanted to shine light on one of America’s unsung heroes, 
> and raise awareness of the vital contributions he’s made to American culture.”
>
> “When I met Tyrus, I knew very little about his astounding work, which I then saw displayed prominently at the Asian 
> Art Museum of San Francisco,” said Michael Kantor, American Masters series executive producer. “This beautifully 
> realized film is a reminder that there are many American Masters who are not immediately recognizable, but when you 
> learn about their stories, you’ll never forget them.”
>
> Launched in 1986, American Masters has earned 28 Emmy Awards — including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and 
> five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special — 12 Peabodys, an Oscar, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards and many 
> other honors. The series’ 31st season on PBS features new documentaries about filmmaker Richard Linklater (September 
> 1), author Edgar Allan Poe (October 30) and entertainer Bob Hope (December 29). To further explore the lives and 
> works of masters past and present, the American Masters website (http://pbs.org/americanmasters) o"ers streaming 
> video of select films, outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the American Masters Podcast, educational resources and In 
> Their Own Words: The American Masters Digital Archive: previously unreleased interviews of luminaries discussing 
> America’s most enduring artistic and cultural giants. The series is a production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET 
> and also seen on the WORLD channel.
>
> American Masters: Tyrus is a production of New Moon Pictures, Apricot Films, Lux Mundi Productions, and Stone Circle 
> Pictures in association with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC’s American 
> Masters for WNET. Pamela Tom is writer and director. Pamela Tom, Gwen Wynne and Tamara Khalaf are producers. Linda 
> Barry is co-producer. Don Hahn, Robert Louie, David W. Louie and Buck Gee are executive producers. Michael Kantor is 
> American Masters series executive producer.
>
> Major support for American Masters and Tyrus is provided by AARP. Additional support for American Masters is provided 
> by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Rosalind P. Walter, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Philip and Janice 
> Levin Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, Judith and Burton Resnick, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, The Blanche & 
> Irving Laurie Foundation, and public television viewers. Additional support for Tyrus is provided in part by The 
> Louie Family Foundation, The Walt Disney Company Foundation, Buck Gee & Mary Hackenbracht, the National Endowment for 
> the Arts, County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, Bill Yee, East West Bank, and Women in Film.
>
>
> Kimi Wei
> kimi () thewei com  @kimiwei
> facebook.com/thekimiwei
> 862-203-8814



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