Phil Dike (1906-1990)

Phil Dike was exposed to art as a child through his grandmother, the artist Eliza Twigg. As the intellectual leader of California watercolor artists in the 1930s, he was influenced by avant-garde painters including Georgia O’keeffe and John Marin. He studied at the Art Students League in New York and the American Academy in Fontainebleau, France. For Disney Studios, Dike was a color coordinator, designer, and instructor between 1935 to 1945. In fact, Dike was the first artist to insert color into Disney Animations. He taught at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate School. Dike was a member of the National Academy of Design and he served as the president of the California Watercolor Society. His legacy remains as an innovator of the developing watercolor movement in California.