Broadcast Pioneers (continued)

Special Guest

Dong Kingman

     Born in Oakland, California, Dong Kingman moved to Hong Kong with his family in 1916 when he was five. He attended Lingnan School where he learned English and "plein-air" painting from his Paris-trained artist teacher Szetu Wei.

     In 1929, Kingman returned to Oakland along with his mother, his young wife, and his brother. While opening a restaurant in 1931, he took painting classes at nearby Fox Morgan School, where his teacher told him that he would never make it in painting. After the restaurant failed, Kingman moved to San Francisco and worked as a cook and houseboy, but on Sunday mornings he would paint views of the City and joined the Chinatown Watercolor Club. In 1936, he exhibited his work at the Art Center Gallery on Montgomery Street, after which he began receiving invitations to a variety of shows. That same year he was awarded the First Purchase Prize of the San Francisco Art Association. His studio, in the Montgomery Block near the Black Cat Caf? became a gathering place for artists and writers such as Beniamino Bufano, Raymond Pucinelli, Matthew Barnes, John Steinbeck, and William Saroyan. It was during this period that Dong Kingman met his first collector, William Gerstel. In 1942-43, Kingman received two Guggenheim Fellowships enabling him to paint all over the United States.

     Dong Kingman was drafted into the Army the following year but was "rescued" by an admirer, Eleanor Roosevelt, who had him transferred to the OSS Art Department. While in the Army, Kingman had his first major exhibition in 1945 at the M.H. deYoung Memorial Museum in San Francisco. This was followed that same year by his first New York exhibition at the Midtown Gallery and his first magazine assignment illustrating a story on China for Fortune. In 1954, he was introduced to Hollywood by his friend the late cinematographer, James Wong Howe, who produced the short film, "The World of Dong Kingman," shown on Kingman's goodwill trips for the US State Department. In the 1960's, he was hired to create opening titles for such Asian themed films as "55 Days in Peking," "The World of Suzie Wong," and "Flower Drum Song." The year 1969 marked the beginning of a twenty-year association Kingman had as one of the judges for the Miss Universe Pageant.

     Dong Kingman has lived in New York City for more than forty years and continues to paint, travel, and exhibit his work worldwide. The CHSA Chinese American National Museum and Learning Center is proud to announce that Kingman's works will be a major exhibition at the museum's grand opening scheduled for the end of 2000.

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