By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
You turn on American Movie Classics just in time to catch the
opening credits of the 1961 musical “Flower Drum Song.”
Though the overture has a distinctive Chinese sound, its lush
orchestrations remain noticeably the work of American icons Richard
Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The Universal-International logo
that graces the screen is another familiar and renowned emblem of
Hollywood.
There is something remarkable, however, about the first few
minutes of the film. A pair of animated Chinese curtains open and
close to reveal the opening credits. Lovely delicate Chinese
paintings follow the unique title sequence. And before the plot
even begins, a series of visuals sets the tone of the movie.
The distinctive images that adorn the opening of this film are
the work of internationally acclaimed watercolorist Dong Kingman,
whose film-related work is on display at the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. Kingman, who passed away in May, donated
the exhibit to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library at the
Center for Motion Picture Study.
“It’s an unseen aspect of a very well known
painter,” said Ellen Harrington, special events and
exhibitions coordinator at the Academy. “His film career is
not as widely known as his fine art painting career.”
Kingman’s 70-year painting career earned him numerous
honors in the art world, including two Guggenheim Fellowships.
Though he was known for his masterful city scenes and landscapes,
he also had an impressive Hollywood career.
On display at the Academy are original watercolors, pen and
pencil sketches, still photographs and video clips of
Kingman’s unique contribution to movies.
“This exhibit is really about an area in the process of
filmmaking that people don’t think about all that
much,” Harrington said.
During the period of time that Kingman was involved in
Hollywood, his artwork was being used to animate title sequences
and set visual moods.
“It was really a special time when the studios were
getting very creative with motion picture titles,” said Monte
James, art dealer and longtime friend of Kingman.
“Kingman’s film career is significant in that
it’s one of the first times the studios actually went outside
the studio system and used an established fine artist to work hand
in hand with them to accentuate their films.”
Unlike other studio films of the era, movies like “Flower
Drum Song” were enhanced by paintings that stood in as the
background for film credits.
“It’s a very different way of having filmmakers work
with artists,” Harrington said.
Animated title sequences were rare even during Kingman’s
time.
“He’s such a unique personality that people saw in
his work something that would enhance their movie,”
Harrington said.
Born in 1911 in Oakland, Calif., Kingman was raised both in
California and Hong Kong.
“He’s really identified with being a wonderful
interpreter of Chinese locales and Asian art motifs,”
Harrington said. “You can really see why they wanted him
involved. He created such a distinctive voice with his
artwork.”
The opening title sequences that Kingman painted for films like
“55 Days in Peking” (1963) and “Lost
Horizon” (1973) helped to set a visual mood that was
sustained throughout the movie.
Though much of his work is profoundly American, Kingman studied
traditional European and Chinese painting. He developed a unique
hybrid style, rendering his own impressions in his artwork.
“He wasn’t one to let people direct him too much in
what he did,” James said. “He had his own creative
processes and he didn’t like to deviate from that too
much.”
According to James, Kingman differed from other studio artists
because he did not conform to Hollywood standards. Instead, he came
up with his own ideas and interpretations.
“His work, as you’ll see in the exhibition, is
really individual,” Harrington said. “He was hired not
because he could do work like everybody else, but because he
already had an individual style and a reputation.
“People in the film community wanted what he already had
in his painting career to bring that to their films so there would
be an entirely different level of art work,” he
continued.
Kingman had been fascinated by films and was also known for
frequenting sets. He sketched on the lots at MGM or Universal and
made quick renderings of movie stars like John Wayne.
“Basically, he was somebody who would draw everywhere he
went all day long,” Harrington said. “He was recording
the process of filmmaking and giving his visual impressions of
people on the set.”
The Academy’s exhibit features complete works, as well as
unfinished pieces that Kingman did very quickly.
Because he was always sketching on the set, his work provides a
nice record of filmmaking from his perspective.
“It gives film historians and researchers an idea of what
the feeling was and what was happening while the movies were being
made,” Harrington said.
The Kingman Collection has pieces that span all the stages of
his artwork, from pencil storyboards and other preparatory drawings
to the actual paintings that were photographed for films. The
pieces will be preserved in the Academy library for research.
Many people see the end product of Kingman’s work on
Turner Classic Movies or the American Movie Classics, but
don’t know the creative process behind the visuals. The
Kingman exhibit gives insight into what an artist will end up going
through working up different renditions and painting things several
different times.
“The academic significance of it is tremendous,”
James said. “This collection, right down to little pocket
notebooks he carried when he was first developing concepts for some
of these things, shows a process that cannot be seen any other
way.”
Kingman’s film-related work represents the Academy’s
second major collection of film-related materials from a prominent
Asian American artist (the first being the collection of
cinematographer James Wong Howe).
Kingman’s art career, however, cannot be reduced to simply
visual sequences, motion picture titles and Asian-themed
movies.
“The importance of his contribution to the American art
scene is immeasurable,” James said.
A retrospective of his fine art work entitled “Dong
Kingman: An American Master” will be touring the United
States starting in October.
FILM: “Dong Kingman: An American Master in
Hollywood” is free and open to the public at the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences located at 8949 Wilshire Blvd.
Academy Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5
p.m., and weekends from noon to 6 p.m. Additional materials from
this exhibition can be seen on the Academy’s Web site at
www.oscars.org.