Gustaf Tenggren – Illustrations for Red Fairy Tales 1924

Gustaf Adolf Tenggren (November 3, 1896 – April 9, 1970) was a Swedish-American illustrator. He is known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use of silhouetted figures with caricatured faces.

Gustaf Tenggren was a chief illustrator for The Walt Disney Company in the late 1930s, in what has been called the Golden Age of American animation, when animated feature films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi and Pinocchio were produced.

Although his work for Disney was still in the Rackham fairy-tale illustration style, after he left the studio he never painted that way again. From 1942 to 1962, Tenggren worked for Little Golden Books with illustrations for children’s books such as Tawny Scrawny Lion; Helen Bannerman‘s  Little Black Sambo and The Poky Little Puppy, which became the single all-time best-selling hardcover children’s book in English; and “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,” Emma Gelders Sterne’s retelling of the Arthurian Legend . During these years his production increased, as did the marketability of his name with a stream of Tenggren books.

Presenting The Red Fairy Tales, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren. First edition, published by McKay, New York, 1924. It is one of the title among the colored fairy series by edited by Andrew Lang, previously illustrated by H.J. Ford.

This is one of Tengreen’s most beautiful illustrated book, about 10 years before he joined Disney Studio where his style completely changed. Enjoy these beautiful illustrations !

Art Gallery: Gustaf Tenggren – Red Fairy Tales 1924