Ralph Burke Tyree: 17 cool facts

Ralph Burke Tyree (June 30, 1921 – January 15, 1979) was an American player of the 20th century who had a prolific career painting scenes from the South Pacific. His adore of the islands was sparked as a U.S. Marine during World War II subsequently he was posted to Samoa. After the war, he split his years along with California and the Pacific, capturing the exoticism of island people and landscapes in oil upon board and black velvet.

Career Tyree was born in Irvine, Kentucky and moved to Delhi, California as an infant. He was awarded a scholarship to the California College of the Arts (Oakland) for a portrait he painted of his forward-thinking wife, Marguerite (Margo) Almeida and also studied at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts. Seven weeks after the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor he associated the Marines. He trained at the base in San Diego before being shipped off to Samoa in the summer of 1942. Private Tyree was befriended by his Commanding General, Charles F.B. Price and became the Marine-base player in Samoa. His portrait art career began by painting the officers and their loved ones, while corresponding similar to art infused love letters to his girlfriend Margo back house in Turlock, California. He returned to San Diego in April, 1944 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, CA . On June 27, 1945 Tyree married Margo. He was discharged from the service on January 24, 1946.Soon after Tyree started his family, and began his professional art career in central California. He and his family (Margo and eventually, seven children) traveled encourage to the South Pacific to bring to life for years in places such as: Guam (1952–55), Oahu (1956–58), Maui (1964–65), and the huge Island of Hawaii (1968-1971). Often, from there, he would travel to other island paradises: Palau, Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands beyond his thirty-year career. He is best known for his nude and semi-nude paintings of women of the Pacific islands. Most of his first works were sensual island wahines in island beach and jungle settings. He painted primarily next oils on board but furthermore occasionally upon canvas and taking into consideration pastels. To build up depth and texture, he switched in mid-career (1960) to painting when oils upon fine, French silk, black velvet. This was in the middle of the 1960s’ Tiki lawlessness and many of his nude pieces would be displayed in Tiki bars and restaurants. In the 1970s, he started painting endangered animals to call attention to their limited numbers. Burke Tyree died at age 57 of a heart invasion at his home in Crows Landing, California. During his career it is estimated that he painted exceeding 3,000 vary pieces.