Mahonri Young
Mahonri Young | |
---|---|
Brigham Young (1949) | |
Movement | Social realism |
Spouse(s) | Cecelia Sharp Dorothy Weir |
Relatives | Waldemar Young (brother) Brigham Young (grandfather) |
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Art competitions | ||
Representing the United States | ||
Olympic Games | ||
1932 Los Angeles | Sculpture: Statues |
Mahonri Mackintosh Young (August 9, 1877 – November 2, 1957) was an American social-realist sculptor and artist. During his lengthy career, he created more than 320 sculptures, 590 oil paintings, 5,500 watercolors, 2,600 prints, and thousands of drawings. However, he is primarily recognized for his sculpture. His work includes landscapes, portraits, busts, life-size sculptures, monuments, and engravings. Regardless of his medium of choice, his work is characterized by spontaneity; he often preferred to prepare his work with quick sketches on the scene. He felt this made his work more natural as compared to using a model in the studio. He was fairly commercially successful during his life, though he did not find success until his mid-30s. Large commissions for sculptures from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) were particularly lucrative for him.
Born into a family of rich Mormon pioneer heritage, Young was the grandson of the second
Early years
Mahonri Mackintosh Young was born on August 9, 1877, in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.[1] He was the oldest child of Mahonri Moriancumer Young, owner of Deseret Woolen Mill which he had inherited from his father Brigham Young, and Agnes Mackintosh.[2] Young enjoyed the time he spent living in rural Utah at the factory; he considered this his "golden age" in Utah.[3] Young was given the name of his father, named after the character Mahonri Moriancumer from the Book of Mormon, widely known as the "Brother of Jared". Moriancumer was omitted due to its peculiarity and was, instead, replaced by Mackintosh, his mother's maiden name.[4] His grandfather, Brigham Young, was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), governor of Utah territory in 1851, and director of the Mormon pioneers to Utah.[5] Mahonri Mackintosh was likely the last grandchild born before the death of Brigham Young on August 29 and the last to receive a blessing from him.[6]
Young's mother came from a polygamist marriage in the Midwestern United States. Though she did not meet her father, Daniel Mackintosh until she was older than one, he died when she was three years old and her mother raised her alone.
His family moved into a small house in Salt Lake City where Young began school.
Young was athletic and participated in baseball and football teams. However, after an injury during a football game, he broke his left arm and after it was incorrectly reset and then rebroken to be properly set, his left arm remained slightly smaller than his right for the entirety of his life.[15] His early interest in athletics influenced the subject of his art, as he often sculpted and depicted athletes competing in various sports, the most prominent sport being boxing.[16] He also developed his interest in nature and bird watching which further influenced themes and subjects of his art.[17] His uncle introduced Young to ranch life, in which he became extremely interested. His mother was adamant that he pursue a different career. Although Young did not become a rancher, themes of ranching and the American West were frequent in his art.[18] Young learned about the art style of Jean-François Millet from reading magazines, which taught him about form, space, light, and movement in art. An article about Millet convinced Young to quit school, get a job, and take art lessons.[19] Determined to become a sculptor, Young realized that he had not sculpted since he was five years old, so he decided he may have better luck being an illustrator.[19]
Salt Lake City and New York education
Rather than attend ninth grade, Young chose to pursue an artistic education under local artist James Taylor Harwood, John Hafen, and Edwin Evans.[2] He had initially applied to the University of Utah, but his application was denied because he had not graduated high school.[20] Instead, Young worked in a curio shop and a stationery shop to make money for lessons with Harwood.[1] However, he was delayed in attending lessons due to a necessary appendectomy.[21] Harwood was unimpressed by Young, believing that he was a lazy artist and did not work hard. Young's philosophy, however, was that there is no virtue in working hard, but rather thinking hard.[22] Furthermore, Young liked to quickly sketch an observation which he would later turn into a drawing, but being a traditionalist, Harwood viewed this technique as cheating and an "artistic crime".[23] Although Young had not yet sculpted in class, one day, Young and a classmate sculpted the mask of Laocoön with details from the David and Laughing Faun. Young was not trained in sculpture and had not sculpted since he was five years old. Despite his lack of experience, his instructors praised his sculptures and his natural talent. However, he would not sculpt again until he studied in Paris.[24] Young saved money earned as a Salt Lake Tribune portrait artist, but took his subsequent demotion to an engraver as a blow to his ego.[25]
Using the money he saved, he attended the
Paris education
In Salt Lake City, Young worked for the
He studied until 1905, where he studied with
Young's most important etching in Paris was The Forge Rue St. Jacque. It was exhibited in 1903, bringing public attention to Young's etchings.
During the summer of 1903, Young returned to Salt Lake City, having run out of money.[43] In Salt Lake City, Young continued to sketch. Fortunately for Young, his mother borrowed enough money for him to spend another two years studying in Paris.[44] In New York, on his way to Paris, Young participated in an amateur boxing match and broke his thumb which prevented him from sculpting for a few months, so he attempted water coloring instead.[45] He had some modeled drawings hung in the Paris Old Salon, which led him to experiment drawing with more models.[46] His model Bovet-Arthur was displayed in the New Salon.[47] Young frequently used this man Bovet-Arthur as a model for his work while he was in Paris.[48] Young did a parody piece called The Toilet, but it was never exhibited, and Young destroyed it in 1905. He destroyed some other work that was not accepted to salons. He later admitted regretting destroying his work and never destroyed another piece.[47][note 1] Heber J. Grant, president of the LDS European Church mission at the time, gave Young money to cast some of Young's statues in bronze.[50] During his last two years studying in France, he visited galleries and studios of well-known artists.[35] Continuing to develop his style of realism, Mahonri Young was one of the first young American sculptural realists.[51]
Career
Mahonri Young returned to Utah in 1905, needing to find a way to make a living.
Young improved his reputation by making a bust of Alfred Lambourne. In early 1907, the LDS Church granted Mahonri Young permission to create a life-size sculpture of Joseph Smith, the first president of the LDS Church, using his death mask. After the LDS Church rejected his work, Young offered to redo the piece and make an additional statue of Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith's brother. These statues were accepted and currently reside on Temple Square.[58] Despite financial troubles, Young married Cecelia Sharp on February 19, 1907.[59] Young had initially seen Sharp while both in Paris where Sharp had been studying piano; they had not yet met and Sharp had to travel back to Utah due to her father's health began to fail. In Utah, they attended the same LDS Church where Sharp's father was a bishop, but they had not yet met because Sharp was five years older than Young.[60] Young and Sharp met in 1906 while Sharp was giving private piano lessons in Salt Lake City and fell in love.[61] Young made a bust of Sharp in 1906. Polished and beautiful, the bust was different than anything he created during his career.[61]
Young and Sharp's first child, Cecelia Agnes Young, known as "Agnes" or "Aggie", was born on April 25, 1908.[62] Continually aware of the revolt of "The Eight", Young traveled to New York in 1908 and 1909 to determine whether he could be successful in New York.[63] After he presented an idea to construct a Seagull Monument to the LDS Church, they were excited about the project, but were unable to fund it.[64] He instead sculpted a frieze to go above the LDS Gymnasium. This was the last project he completed in Utah before he moved to New York.[65] Young felt that he could relate to the styles and the goals of "The Eight", so he and his family moved to New York in 1910.[63] In New York, Young was a founding member of the Society of American Etchers.[66] He did not find success until 1912, which was a turning point in his career. In 1911, Young won the Helen Foster Barnett prize for Bovet-Arthur a Laborer, displayed at the National Academy. His first New York exhibition was held in 1912.[67] Stevedore was shown at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.[68] In the same year, Young was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Associate.[69] Moreover, in 1912, Young proposed the Seagull Monument to the LDS Church a second time, stressing the personal importance of the monument to Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church Charles W. Nibley.[70] The LDS Church offered Young a contract for the completion of the Seagull Monument, offering him a $200 per month advance for his living expenses.[71] Mahonri "Bill" Sharp Young was born on July 23, 1911, in New York.[72][73]
Following the Seagull contract, Young was offered a contract to create art for a Hopi Indian exhibition for the
In 1926,
In 1932, Young competed in the
This is the Place Monument
Mahonri Young had a unique relationship with the LDS Church. Since his teenage years, he did not attend church, follow the
Young was awarded $50,000 to build the monument in 1939 when he was 62 years old.
In 1947, Young was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[78] Dorothy Weir died on May 28, 1947.[106] Young continued to live there after her death. His last major work was for the State of Utah. He created a six-foot monument of Brigham Young seated for the Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building. The work was unveiled in Washington, D.C., in 1950.[11] He carved this work at the American Academy in Rome, Italy.[107] During a visit to Utah in the same year, he was made an honorary member of the Sons of Utah Pioneers Club. In 1955, Young participated in the Armory Show Commemorative Exhibition in New York City.[106] In January 1957, Young had a serious stroke and in October 1957, he had an ulcer attack. Young died in Norwalk, Connecticut, on November 2, 1957, from the result of bleeding ulcers complicated by pneumonia; he was eighty years old. He was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery at the Young family plot, next to Cecelia Young.[108]
Style and works
Although Mahonri Young was taught the classical style which prevailed in the French art institutes of the time, and was surrounded by colleagues who sought to reject the classical style with impressionistic and post-impressionistic styles, Young was disinterested in depicting idyllic or naturalistic images and was more concerned with depicting the realities of life that surrounded him.[109] Consequently, Young's work is often associated with social realism, as his work depicted laborers, immigrants, minorities, the West, and man's interaction with nature.[110] At the time, Young felt isolated by his traditionalist instructors and colleagues who penned Young's work as "dishonest".[111] The size of his work ranged from larger monuments to small sculptures which he typically did in the social realist style.[11] His most recurring subject matter included animals, Native Americans, the boxing ring, ranch life, and laborers.[112] Young greatly admired the work of Cyrus Dallin and Young's work often had parallels to that of Dallin's.[113]
Mahonri Young was versatile in his subject matter and methods, yet his works were united in "powerful elegance".[114] He was proficient in various mediums and techniques such as etching, drawing, watercolor, oil, gouache, and sculpture, which included his lesser known work on medals and reliefs.[112] Even though he is known for his sculpture, he always kept a sketchbook with him and would use pen and ink, oil, and watercolor to depict scenes he saw on the farm.[11] However while art critic, Frank Jewett Mather praised Young's drawings, etchings, and sculpture, he qualified Young's painting as average, suggesting that Young may have commenced painting at too old of an age or perhaps did not approach it with the same effort and care with which he approached his other mediums.[115] Additionally, compared Young's work to that of Jean-François Millet, Honoré Daumier, and Constantin Meunier.[116] Though Young vehemently denied it, some critics accused Young of imitating Millet's work.[19] Young's work, particularly his earlier pieces, was also heavily influenced by Auguste Rodin.[35] Young's sculpture of fighting boxers, Right to the Jaw is characteristic of Rodin's style with its curves and opposing diagonal movements.[51] Young's experience as a sketch artist for the Salt Lake Tribune gave him a spontaneous style that he believed benefited his art. Young excelled in "depicting figures in motion" and "the psychological nuances of gesture".[117] Rather than emphasize light, appearance, and technical skill as had prevailed in traditionalist art, Young preferred to emphasize rhythm, balance, movement, form, and design.[111]
Legacy
Mahonri Young's career lasted more than fifty years with his works displayed in over fifty museums and galleries in the United States and Europe.[118] Upon his death, his estate constituted 320 pieces of sculpture, 590 oil paintings, 5,500 watercolors, 2,600 prints, and thousands of drawings.[119] Young was the first Utah artist to have his work displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Moreover, Young received nearly every award offered to artists in Utah.[118] The Springville Museum of Art called Young "Utah's most famous New York-based artist".[120] According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Young gained a national reputation for his sculpture and graphic art.[121] Guy Pène du Bois said, "Mahonri Young belongs among...those who of the strain of Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens, Goya, Renoir, and Millet...he is a rare sculptor in America".[97] Young was a member of the American Watercolor Society.[122] In 1940, the Addison Gallery of American Art hosted a retrospective exhibit of Young's various works.[123] In 1999, the Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo, Utah opened a year-long exhibition of Mahonri Young's work called "Mahonri: A Song of Joys".[124] The Young family donated over 7,000 various works of Young to Brigham Young University. Additionally, the BYU Museum of Art held an exhibition of Young's work during summer 2019.[125]
See also
Footnotes
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g Toone, Thomas (October 1985). "Mahonri Young: Sculptor of His Heritage". Engisn. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
- ^ a b c Toone 1997, p. ix.
- ^ a b Davis 1999, p. 14.
- ^ Davis 1999, pp. 8–10.
- ^ "Brigham Young". History. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Davis 1999, p. 9.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 19.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 10, 19.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Davis 1999, pp. 18–19.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Weir Farm: Mahonri Young". National Park Service. National Park Service: U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 28.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 36–40.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 28; Hinton 1974, p. 41
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 42.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 43–44.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 44.
- ^ a b c Hinton 1974, p. 46.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 33.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 48.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 56.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 57.
- ^ Toone 1997, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 6.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 59.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 63.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 64.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 66.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 67.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 68.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 49.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. x.
- ^ a b c Hinton 1974, p. 10.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 76–79.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 55.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 56.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 80.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 81.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 83.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 84.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 86.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 89–90.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 87.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 104.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 95.
- ^ a b c Hinton 1974, p. 11.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, pp. 99–100.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 110.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 103–104.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 12.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 110–113.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 114.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 100.
- ^ a b Davis 1999, p. 102.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 104.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 14.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 78.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 123.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 91.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 124.
- ^ a b c d e Mather 1940, p. 56.
- ^ Toone 1997, pp. 93–98.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 98.
- ^ "Mahonri Young, 84, An Art Historian". New York Times. July 7, 1996. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- ^ "Mahonri Young chronology". Deseret News. Deseret News Publishing Company. November 9, 1999. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 127–129.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 130.
- ^ Davis 1999, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 134.
- ^ ISBN 0870999230. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 20.
- ^ Davis 1999, pp. 165–166, 174, 188.
- ^ Toone 1997, pp. 126–127.
- ^ a b Mather 1940, p. 57.
- ^ Davis 1999, pp. 154, 190.
- ^ "Dorothy Weir Young". National Park Service. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 154.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 168.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 183.
- ^ "Mahonri Young". Olympedia. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
- ^ The Games of the Xth Olympiad Los Angeles 1932 (PDF). Xth Olympiade Committee of the Games of Los Angeles, U.S.A. 1932. 1933. pp. 748–765. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-04-10.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mahonri Mackintosh Young". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
- ^ Wagner, Juergen. "Olympic Art Competition 1932". Olympic Games Museum. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01.
- ^ Davis 1999, p. 201
- ^ "Mahonri Young's Sculpture Preserves His Mormon Past". LIFE. Time, Inc. February 17, 1941. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ "Sculptures-Agriculture and industry by Mahonri Young, This is the "industry" statue". Queens Library. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- ^ Digital Collections, The New York Public Library. "(still image) Art - Sculpture - Agriculture and Industry (Mahonri M. Young), (1935 - 1945)". The New York Public Library, Astor, Lennox, and Tilden Foundation. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- ^ a b Hinton 1972, p. 36.
- ^ a b Toone 1997, pp. 162–163.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 175.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 164.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 167.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 21.
- ^ Boren, Ray (July 23, 2012). "'This is the place': Historic monuments of Salt Lake Valley's 'Pioneer View'". Deseret News. Deseret News Publishing Company. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- OCLC 24502140.
- ^ Hinton 1972, pp. 41–42.
- ^ a b Toone 1997, p. xiii.
- ^ "Register of the Mahonri MacKintosh Young (1877-1957) Collection, 1870-1957". L. Tom Perry Special Collection. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 194; Davis 1999, p. 280
- ^ Hinton 1974, pp. 2–6.
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 6.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 8.
- ^ a b Mather 1940, pp. 13–44.
- ^ Toone 1997, p. 26.
- ^ Mather 1940, p. 7.
- ^ Mather 1940, p. 11.
- ^ Mather 1940, p. 7; Hinton 1974, p. 10
- ^ Hinton 1974, p. 2.
- ^ a b Hinton 1974, p. 22.
- ^ Wadley, Carma (April 12, 1998). "Life and Art of Mahonri Young". Deseret News. Deseret News Publishing Company. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^ "Mahonri Young". J. Willard Marriott Library. The University of Utah. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- OCLC 24502140.
- ^ "The AWS and the Women's Movement". American Watercolor Society. American Watercolor Society, Inc. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
- ^ Mather 1940, p. 3.
- ^ Davis, Norma S. (April 10, 2001). "Celebrating the Art of Mahonri Young". Meridian Magazine. Archived from the original on February 2, 2010. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
- ^ "In the Arena: The Art of Mahonri Young". Brigham Young University Museum of Art. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
References
- Davis, Norma S. (1999), A Song of Joys: the biography of Mahonri Mackintosh Young, Sculptor, Painter, Etcher, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Museum of Art, OCLC 42649636
- Hinton, Wayne K. (Winter 1972), "Mahonri Young and the Church: A View of Mormonism and Art", S2CID 254403315
- Hinton, Wayne K. (1974). A biographical history of Mahonri M. Young, a western American artist (Ph.D. Thesis). Department of History, Brigham Young University. OCLC 365653294.
- OCLC 19895602.
- Toone, Thomas E. (1997). Mahonri Young: His Life and Art. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 1560850558.
External links
- Mahonri Macintosh Young — works held by the Utah Museum of Fine Arts
- Mahonri Macintosh Young — works held by the Springville Museum of Art
- Mahonri Young — Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Mahonri M. Young papers, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, BYU
- Taylor A. Woolley Papers at University of Utah Digital Library, Marriott Library Special Collections