Last week, artist Tyrus Wong died at age 106, and Margalit Fox has an astounding obituary of an amazing life:
A Hollywood studio artist, painter, printmaker, calligrapher, greeting-card illustrator and, in later years, maker of fantastical kites, he was one of the most celebrated Chinese-American artists of the 20th century.
From his start as a 10 year old immigrant from Guangdong Province, to a key modernist painter to the artist who gave H=Bambi its distinctive look, to a concept artist for 20 years to kitemaker, Wong lived a fantastic life despite fighting prejudice every step of the way. When you live to be 106 you do a lot of things – he even took 15 years off to care for his ailing wife…and then had 20 years more to go in his career.
And the art. So beautiful.
Wong’s art has been the subject of several retrospectives, and he was the subject of a documentary as well.
