Background

Ethnicity: Dong was a son of Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong.

Dong Kingman was born on March 31, 1911, in Oakland, California, United States. He was a son of Dong Chuan-Fee, a businessman, and Lew Shee Kingman, an amateur painter.

Education

When Dong was five years old, his family members moved back to their native Hong Kong, where his father established a dry goods business. As a young boy, Dong started his formal education at the Bok Jai School. Founding out, that he wanted to become an artist, his mentor gave him the name "King Man". Later, Dong combined the two names into Kingman, placing his family name first in accordance with Chinese naming conventions, creating the name Dong Kingman.

Some time later, Kingman went on to study at the Chan Sun Wen School, where he excelled at calligraphy and watercolor painting. It was Szeto Wai, Dong's mentor, who introduced him to Northern European trends for the first time.

In his later years, Kingman came back to the United States, where he was born. In 1929, he studied at the Fox Morgan Art School.

In 1987, Kingman obtained an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Academy of Art College (present-day Academy of Art University) San Francisco, California, United States.

Career

In the late 1920's, Dong focused on watercolor painting. During the time of the Great Depression, he was part of the Works Progress Administration, which was intended to assist in the employment of artists. During that time, Kingman was paid minimum wage to produce works of art, which in turn became the property of the government. It was in 1936, that his work as an artist brought him national recognition and success as he gained a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Art Association.

After the Great Depression, Kingman enlisted in the United States Army, where he served as an artist for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) at Camp Beal, California, and Washington, D.C. This military involvement led him to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1941 and 1942.

After the chaos of the past decade of his life, Kingman settled down in Brooklyn, New York City, where he continued to develop his career as an artist. From 1946 till 1958, he served as an art instructor at Columbia University. He also taught at many other educational establishments, including Hunter College, where, in 1948, he became a full-time teacher. Moreover, during his life in New York City, Kingman was associated with Midtown, Wildenstein and Hammer galleries.

In 1957, Kingman began teaching annual painting workshops in many different countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. While doing so, he kept on painting, continuing to show his work, especially his favorite scenes of urban New York. Besides, in the 1950's and 1960's, Kingman served as an illustrator in the film industry. He created watercolors for scenes in movies like the 1961 "Flower Drum Song".

It's worth noting, that, in addition to illustrating several books, Kingman wrote two books of his own. The first one, titled "San Francisco, City on Golden Hills", he wrote with Herbert E. Caen in 1967, and following that was his 1980 "Dong Kingman's Watercolors", which he wrote with his wife Helena Kuo.

It was in 1981, that Kingman became the first American artist to be represented in a solo exhibition, following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and China. That exhibition attracted more than 100,000 people. In the 1990's, Dong had two important exhibitions in Taiwan, namely at the Taipei Modern Art Museum in 1995 and the Taichung Provincial Museum in 1999.

Achievements

• Dong Kingman gained prominence as one of America's premier watercolor masters. He was known for his urban and landscape paintings, as well as his graphic design work in the Hollywood film industry.
  
  It's worth noting, that, in 1940, one of the highest compliments in the art world was paid to Kingman: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City purchased one of his works to display in its collection. It was the first piece of Asian-American art to be displayed there.
  
  Dong was the recipient of numerous awards, including the San Francisco Art Association First Purchase Prize, Chicago Art Institute International Watercolor Exhibition Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Audubon Artists Medal of Honor, 150th Anniversary Gold Medal Award from the National Academy of Design and many others.
  
  The artist's works are kept in over 50 public and private collections worldwide, including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Brooklyn Museum, New York City; M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; and Art Institute of Chicago, among others. Over 300 of his film-related works are permanently housed at the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California.
  
  In 2001-2002, the artist was honored with a highly successful exhibition, "Dong Kingman: American Master", spanning seven decades of Kingman's artistic career.

Works

More photos

• book

  • San Francisco, City on Golden Hills 1967
  • Dong Kingman's Watercolors 1980

• painting

  • Four Men on a Bicycle

  • Blue Moon

  • Triple Decker, New York City

  • Rockefeller Center

  • Strolling Down Washington Street

  • CHINESE CULTURAL CENTER OF STOCKTON

  • Yosemite Winter, Late Afternoon; Corn Stalks (a group of two)

  • A tugboat under the Bay Bridge

  • Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco)

  • View of the water

  • Bridge and Tugboats

  • View from Ann's Window

Views

Dong Kingman's artwork most typically depicts city landscapes, using bright and vivid colors to add both life and drama to the watercolor. When painting people, Kingman was very animated, focusing more on the overall idea. This contrasts the great detail, with which he rendered his buildings and landscapes.

Quotations: "Most artists are surrealists...always dreaming something and then they paint it."

"Three men, riding on a bicycle, which has only one wheel, I guess that's surrealism."

Membership

• 

  elected associate

  National Academy of Design , United States

  1946

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Dong suffered from pancreatic cancer.

Connections

Kingman was married twice. In September 1929, he married Janice Wong. Their marriage produced two children - Eddie Kingman and Dong Kingman Junior. Dong and Janice's marriage was cut short, when Janice died in 1954. In 1956, Kingman married Helena Kuo, a writer and translator, who passed away in 1999.

Father:

Dong Chuan-Fee

Mother:

Lew Shee Kingman

Lew Shee Kingman was a housewife and amateur painter.

child:

Dong Kingman Junior

child:

Eddie Kingman

late wife:

Helena Kuo

late wife:

Janice Wong

mentor:

Szeto Wai

References

• The Water Colors of Dong Kingman: And How the Artist Works
  1958