Gustaf Tenggren facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gustaf Tenggren
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Gustaf Tenggren with children 1950
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| Born |
Gustaf Adolf Tenggren
November 3, 1896 |
| Died | April 9, 1970 (aged 73) Maine, United States
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| Burial place | Spruce Lawn Cemetery, Lincoln County, Maine, US |
| Occupation | Illustrator, animator |
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Gustaf Adolf Tenggren (born November 3, 1896 – died April 9, 1970) was a talented Swedish-American artist. He was both an illustrator and an animator. He is famous for his fairy-tale art style. This style was influenced by another artist named Arthur Rackham. Tenggren often drew characters as dark shapes (called silhouettes) with funny, exaggerated faces.
In the late 1930s, Tenggren was a main illustrator for The Walt Disney Company. This time was known as the Golden Age of American animation. During this period, amazing animated movies were made. These included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi, and Pinocchio.
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His Early Art Journey
Gustaf Tenggren was born in 1896 in a place called Magra parish in Sweden. When he was 17, he received a special scholarship. This allowed him to study painting at an art school in Gothenburg, Sweden. Gustaf's early art was strongly connected to Scandinavian art. He loved drawing myths and fairy tales from his home country. He even illustrated a popular Swedish fairy tale book called Bland Tomtar och Troll ("Among Gnomes and Trolls"). He took over from another famous illustrator, John Bauer.
After his first art show in 1920, Tenggren moved to the United States. He joined his sister in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1922, he moved to New York City. There, he became well-known for drawing pictures for magazines and advertisements. He also kept illustrating children's books during this time.
Working with Disney
In the 1920s, Tenggren drew many children's books. He also worked a lot in advertising until the Great Depression. In 1936, Walt Disney Productions hired him. He became a main illustrator for the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Tenggren was not just a concept artist for this film. He also created many illustrations for things related to the movie that weren't animated. For example, he drew pictures for the Snow White story that appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine. This was just before the movie came out. He later worked on other Disney films like Bambi and Pinocchio. He also helped create the backgrounds and moods for short films such as The Ugly Duckling and The Old Mill.
Famous Children's Books
After leaving Disney in 1940, Tenggren changed his art style. He no longer drew in the Rackham fairy-tale way. From 1942 to 1962, Tenggren worked for Little Golden Books. He created illustrations for many popular children's books. These included Saggy Baggy Elephant and Tawny Scrawny Lion. He also illustrated The Shy Little Kitten and The Poky Little Puppy. The Poky Little Puppy became the best-selling hardcover children's book ever in English. He also illustrated "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table." This was a retelling of the famous Arthurian Legend by Emma Gelders Sterne. During these years, he drew more and more books. His name also became very popular.
Gustaf Tenggren never went back to Sweden after moving to the United States in 1920. He passed away in 1970 in Southport, Maine.
His Lasting Impact
Even though Gustaf Tenggren's name might not be widely known, his artwork is recognized by many. This includes his work in Disney films and his illustrations for Little Golden Books. After he died, much of his non-Disney art was given to the University of Minnesota. It is now part of the Kerlan Collection, a special library focused on children's literature.
To remember Gustaf Tenggren, a large bronze statue of Pinocchio was put up. It is about 9 meters (30 feet) tall. The American pop artist Jim Dine designed it. The statue is in downtown Borås, a city south of where Tenggren was born. It was placed on a tiered platform on May 16, 2008. This was at the start of the Borås Festival of the Arts.
Movies He Illustrated
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Fantasia (for the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria part) (1940)
- Bambi (1942)
Movies with His Background Art
- Little Hiawatha (1937)
- The Old Mill (1937)
- The Ugly Duckling (1939)
Books He Illustrated
- Small Fry and the Winged Horse, Ruth Campbell (1927)
- Dickey Byrd, Elizabeth Woodruff (1928)
- The Ring of the Nibelung, Gertrude Henderson (1932)
- Stories from a Magic World, Elizabeth Woodruff (1938)
- The Poky Little Puppy, Janette Sebring Lowrey (1942)
- The Tenggren Tell-it-Again Book, Katharine Gibson (1942)
- The Shy Little Kitten, Cathleen Schurr (1946)
- The Saggy Baggy Elephant, Kathryn and Byron Jackson (1947)
- Little Black Sambo, Helen Bannerman (1948)
- The Tawny Scrawny Lion, Kathryn and Byron Jackson (1952)
- The Night Before Christmas, Clement C. Moore (1951)
- Thumbelina, Hans Christian Andersen (1953)
