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Gustaf Tenggren

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Gustaf Tenggren
Gustaf Tenggren with children 1950
Born
Gustaf Adolf Tenggren

November 3, 1896
DiedApril 9, 1970 (aged 73)
Maine,United States
Burial placeSpruce Lawn Cemetery,Lincoln County, Maine,US
Occupation(s)Illustrator,animator
InSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs(1937), Tenggren's presentation drawing depicts the major characteristics of each of the seven dwarves.

Gustaf Adolf Tenggren(November 3, 1896 – April 9, 1970) was aSwedish-Americanillustrator and animator. He is known for hisArthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use ofsilhouettedfigures withcaricaturedfaces. Tenggren was a chief illustrator forThe Walt Disney Companyin the late 1930s, in what has been calledthe Golden Age of American animation,whenanimatedfeature filmssuch asSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs,Fantasia,BambiandPinocchiowere produced.

Early career

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Gustaf Tenggren was born in 1896 in Magra parish (now part ofAlingsås Municipality), inVästra Götaland County,Sweden.In 1913 he received a scholarship to studypaintingatValand,the art school inGothenburg,Sweden. Tenggren's early schooling and artistic influences were solidly grounded inScandinavian techniques,motifs and myths; he worked with illustrating in the popularSwedish folkloreand fairy tales annualBland Tomtar och Troll( "Among Gnomes and Trolls"), where he succeeded illustratorJohn Bauer.

After his first exhibition in 1920, Tenggren immigrated to the U.S. where he joined his sister inCleveland, Ohio.Moving to New York City in 1922, he made a name for himself in magazine illustration and advertising, while continuing to illustrate children's books.[1]

Disney Company

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In the 1920s, while continuing to illustrate a large number of children's books, Tenggren worked consistently in advertising up until theGreat Depression;in 1936, he was hired byWalt Disney Productions,to work as a chief illustrator withSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.Tenggren was not only a concept artist on this movie, but he did much of the illustrations for the non-animated tie-ins to the film, most notably the serialized version of Snow White which was featured in two successive issues ofGood Housekeepingjust prior to the film's release. He later worked with productions such asBambiandPinocchio,as well as backgrounds and atmospheres of films such asThe Ugly DucklingandThe Old Mill.

Children's books

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The Poky Little Puppy(1942). Tenggren gave up his Rackham-esque fairy tale illustration style after he left Disney in 1940.

Although his work for the studio was still that way, Tenggren never painted in the Rackham fairy-tale illustration style again after he left Disney. From 1942 to 1962, Tenggren worked forLittle Golden Bookswith illustrations for children's books such asSaggy Baggy Elephant,Tawny Scrawny Lion,The Shy Little Kitten,Little Black Sambo,andThe Poky Little Puppy,which became the single all-time best-selling hardcover children's book inEnglish;and "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,"Emma Gelders Sterne's retelling of theArthurian Legend.During these years his production increased, as did the marketability of his name with a stream of Tenggren books.

After he moved to the United States in 1920, he never returned to Sweden again. Gustaf Tenggren died in 1970 at Dogfish Head inSouthport,Maine.[2]

Legacy

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Although the name Gustaf Tenggren remains relatively unknown, his work is widely recognized, both that in the Disney films and his work in the Little Golden Books. After his death, much of his non-Disney art was donated to theUniversity of Minnesotato be included in theKerlan Collection,a special library focusing on children's literature.

In memory of Gustaf Tenggren, a 9-meter (30 ft)bronzesculpture ofPinocchio,designed by the Americanpop artistJim Dine,has been erected in downtownBorås,a city south of Tenggren's birthplace. At the cost ofSEK9.5 million, the Pinocchio sculpture was supposed to be paid for by private donations. The statue was erected on a tiered pedestal at the beginning of Allégatan, a main street in the center of Borås at the start of the Borås Festival of the Arts on May16, 2008.

Filmography

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Illustrations

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Background illustrations

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Illustrated works

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1927

  • Small Fry and the Winged Horse,Ruth Campbell

1928

  • Dickey Byrd,Elizabeth Woodruff

1932

1938

1942

  • Runaway Home,Elizabeth Coatsworth
  • Bedtime Stories,Gustaf Tenggren
  • The Poky Little Puppy,Janette Sebring Lowrey
  • The Tenggren Tell-it-Again Book,Katharine Gibson

1943

  • The Lively Little Rabbit,George Duplaix
  • The Story of England,Beatrice Curtis Brown
  • Stories from the Great Metropolitan Opera,Helen Dike
  • Sing for Christmas,Opal Wheeler

1944

  • Little Match Girl,Hans Christian Andersen
  • Sing For America,Opal Wheeler
  • Tenggren's Story Book,Gustaf Tenggren

1946

1947

  • The Big Brown Bear,George Duplaix
  • The Saggy Baggy Elephant,Kathryn and Byron Jackson

1948

  • Little Black Sambo,Helen Bannerman
  • Cowboys and Indians,Kathryn and Byron Jackson

1950

  • The Little Trapper,Kathryn & Byron Jackson
  • Pirates, Ships and Sailors,Kathryn and Byron Jackson

1951

1952

  • The Tawny Scrawny Lion,Kathryn and Byron Jackson

1953

1954

  • The Golden Goose,Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

1955

  • The Giant with the Three Golden Hairs,Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
  • Snow White and Rose Red,Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

1957

  • Golden Tales from Arabian Nights,Margaret Seifer and Irving Shapiro

1959

1961

  • The Canterbury Tales,A. Kent Hieatt and Constance Hieatt

References

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  • Conrad, JoAnn. Fantasy Imaginaries and Landscapes of Desire: Gustaf Tenggren’s Forgotten Decades
  • John Canemaker,Before the animation begins: the art and lives of Disney inspirational sketch artists,New York: Hyperion, 1996ISBN978-0-7868-6152-1
  • Steve Santi,Illustrators/Authors-Collecting Little Golden Books,Florence, Alabama: Books Americana, 1989ISBN978-0-89689-071-8
  • From Swedish fairy tales to American fantasy: Gustaf Tenggren's illustrations 1920-1970,Minneapolis: University Art Museum, University of Minnesota, 1986
  • Pinocchio delar Borås befolkning,by Lars Råde, in theExpressen,March 24, 2006
  • Kultur Väst:Jim Dines Pinoccio har landat
Notes
  1. ^Conrad
  2. ^"GUSTAF A. TENGGREN, CHILDREN'S ARTIST".The New York Times.9 April 1970.Retrieved2018-11-05.
  3. ^"Amazon.com - Stories from a Magic World".Amazon.May 2010.Retrieved2020-02-19.
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