Ralph Burke Tyree

Ralph Burke Tyree
American, b. 1921

Ralph Burke Tyree was born in Kentucky, but moved to California when he was an infant. He had two sisters and five brothers and was the seventh child of eight children. He received a scholarship to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He studied there and at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts.

Tyree was the protégé and contemporary of Edgar Leetag, who is considered the father of Oil on Velvet art. Both men focused on Polynesian themes.