Gustaf TENGGREN
1896–1970, Sweden/USA

Gustaf Tenggren biography:

Gustaf Tenggren studied at the "Slöjdföreningen" and Valand painting school in Sweden for Professor Axel Erdmann. He has worked as an illustrator in "Bland tomtar och troll" and in H. C. Andersens stories. 1920 he moved to the United States and live the first years in Cleveland. There he received assignments for Life and Cosmopolitan, he also works full time for an advertising agency, The Studio Amsden. His style was heavily influenced by John Bauer. In Hollywood, he became artistic director of the Walt Disney studio in the years 1936-1939 and was responsible for, Snow White, The Ugly Duckling and Pinocchio. Then returned to the high artistry and showed his skill as a colourist in oil and watercolor.


Tenggren originally established his career as an illustrator in his native Sweden. "In summer of 1920 Gustaf and Anna decided to leave for the United States. They arrived in New York in August, and continued on to Cleveland, Ohio where Gustafs's two sisters had already settled. After two years of hard work, they moved to New York, where Gustaf's career really took off...In1929 when the Great Depression hit the nation, he left New York for a more slow-paced life in the rural surroundings of Rhinebeck, Dutchess County in upstate New York...In 1935 Gustaf accepted an offer to work as an Art Director for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which was currently under production at Walt Disney's Studios in Los Angeles. For almost three years he painted inspirational artwork to help the layout artists to find the right mood for the actual scenes and backgrounds. His paintings had a major influence on some central scenes, such as the interiors of the dwarfs’ cottage, the queen’s laboratory, and the scenes in the woods where Snow White flees from the hunter. He also contributed to Bambi, The Ugly Duckling, Hiawatha and Fantasia. But his greatest addition was to Pinocchio which at the largest part (credited) to Gustaf Tenggren for the design environment, clothing and props. After leaving the studio in 1939, parallell to other children's book illustratiion commissions, he started to develop book projects of his own, bearing his own trade mark, The Tenggren books.The first was The Tenggren Mother Goose and it was followed by a number of similar compilations of folk tales and traditional stories. At the same time, he began his engagement with The Golden Press, producing a series of million-selling mass market picture books, among them theWorld's most printed, The Poky Little Puppy."

Source: http://www.gustaftenggren.com/