Jules Engel is known for his bold geometric abstract paintings and animation work including dance sequences in the Disney film "Fantasia". In 1970 he founded the experimental animation program at Cal Arts.

Engel exhibited at the LA County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York and Tobey C Moss Gallery in Los Angeles.

Source: Art in America, December 2003

Born in Hungary, Jules Engel immigrated to the United States in 1930, arriving in Hollywood in 1937. He stepped into the production of Fantasia by Walt Disney Studios in the wake of Oskar Fischinger. Engel brought color and choreography to the production, especially concepts for the Russian and Chinese dance sequences.

As one of the first members of the UPA Studios, he helped create Gerald McBoing-Boing, Madeleine and Mr. Magoo, among other favorite films. In 1959, he co-founded, Format Films, with Herb Klynn and received an Oscar nomination for his production of Icarus Montgolfier Wright, scripted by Ray Bradbury.

In the 1960s, he painted and made live-action films in Italy and France but, in 1970, returned to Los Angeles to work with the newly formed California Institute of the Arts(CalArts). He was the founding director of the Department of Experimental Abstract Animation on Film, a position he held until his death.