Gustaf Tenggren

Gustaf Tenggren studied at Valand School of Fine Arts and HDK. Training under Axel Erdmann is recorded. The recorded working language is French. Residence is recorded at Gothenburg and Cleveland. Employment is recorded with The Walt Disney Company. Work by Gustaf Tenggren is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum.

• Name — Gustaf Tenggren • Birth Name — Gustaf Adolf Tenggren • Born — November 3, 1896 • Birthplace — Alingsås, Sweden • Died — April 9, 1970 (aged 73) • Place of death — Maine, United States • Burial Place — Spruce Lawn Cemetery, Lincoln County, Maine, US • Occupation — Illustrator, animator • Years Active — 1927–1970

Gustaf Tenggren was born in 1896 in Magra parish (now part of Alingsås Municipality), in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. In 1913 he received a scholarship to study painting at Valand, the art school in Gothenburg, Sweden. Tenggren's early schooling and artistic influences were solidly grounded in Scandinavian techniques, motifs and myths; he worked with illustrating in the popular Swedish folklore and fairy tales annual Bland Tomtar och Troll ("Among Gnomes and Trolls"), where he succeeded illustrator John Bauer. After his first exhibition in 1920, Tenggren immigrated to the U.S. where he joined his sister in Cleveland, 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.

• Illustration — In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Tenggren's presentation drawing depicts the major characteristics of each of the seven dwarves. In the 1920s, while continuing to illustrate a large number of children's books, Tenggren worked consistently in advertising up until the Great Depression; in 1936, he was hired by Walt Disney Productions, to work as a chief illustrator with Snow 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 of Good Housekeeping just prior to the film's release. He later worked with productions such as Bambi and Pinocchio, as well as backgrounds and atmospheres of films such as The Ugly Duckling and The Old Mill. In January 1939, during the early stages of Bambi, he left the studio and returned to New York, where he had lived before being hired by Disney.

The authorities additionally record the headings Gustav Tenggren, Gustaf Adolf Tenggren and Gustave Tenggren. His recorded language was French. He was the child of Aron Tenggren. He married Anna Tenggren-Brink.

Gustaf Tenggren is recorded as illustrator, draftsperson, painter, animator and artist.

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • Pinocchio (1940) • Fantasia (Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria segment)(1940) • Bambi (1942)

• Little Hiawatha (1937) • The Old Mill (1937) • The Ugly Duckling (1939)

1925 • A Dog of Flanders 1926 • Juan and Juanita, Frances Courtenay Baylor 1927 • Small Fry and the Winged Horse, Ruth Campbell 1928 • Dickey Byrd, Elizabeth Woodruff 1932 • The Ring of the Nibelung, Gertrude Henderson 1938 • Stories from a Magic World, Elizabeth Woodruff 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 • Farm Stories, Kathryn and Byron Jackson • The Shy Little Kitten, Cathleen Schurr 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 • The Night Before Christmas, Clement C. Moore 1952 • The Tawny Scrawny Lion, Kathryn and Byron Jackson 1953 • Thumbelina, Hans Christian Andersen • Topsy Turvy Circus, George Duplaix • Jack and the Beanstalk, English Folk Tale 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 • The Lion´s Paw: A Tale of African Animals, Jane Werner Watson 1961 • The Canterbury Tales, A. Kent Hieatt and Constance Hieatt 1962 • King Arther and the Knights of the Round Table, Emma Gelders Sterne and Barbara Lindsay