Paper Son

by Julie Leung

Libby audiobook 13 minutes

Read by Julie Leung and Feodor Chin

Genre: children's biography

Published: 2021

 

I got this along with a bunch of other children's books for my grandson to listen to when we were in the car. This fascinated me! I learned about Tyrus Wong and his journey to America from China. He loved to draw and inspired the background paintings in Disney's Bambi. I listened to it a second time by myself and read about him online. I've requested the video Tyrus. I love when children's books open a new avenue of understanding for me! I was familiar with the concept of "paper sons," but this story made me so sad for our country's Chinese Exclusion Act . . . and other things we've done to try to keep America for only certain Americans. I'd love to get the print version of this book to actually see the illustrations in it.

<Wrote the above on 2.23.2022. Added below 3.12.2022.>

I just finished watching the video Tyrus. Incredible! I'm so glad his life and artwork are available to us today! The interview footage with him is fantastic - he was quite old when this movie was made. (It was published in 2017. He died in 2016 at age 106. I'm not sure when the interviews were done, but he was old!)

The Chinese Exclusion Act is something I'd heard of before, but history isn't my strength. The fact that he was able to enter America is something of a miracle to me. The last time he saw his mother was at age nine when he and his dad left China . . . that makes me so sad. Tyrus was such a prolific artist! I looked up some of the plates he had painted and they are really expensive . . . but would be amazing to own. He made kites toward the end of his life. Wow! This video is incredible. It was fun to see Peter Docter at an event honoring Tyrus Wong and his legacy. I knew him at Kennedy High School forty years ago!

Tyrus had three daughters with his wife Ruth. He calls his daughters his "greatest achievement." I couldn't read all the blurb on the back of the video (thanks, library barcode sticker) but pbs.org has even more info!

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.”