The Artist
Mahonri Young was born August 9, 1877, twenty days before the death of his grandfather, Brigham Young. Mahonri was the last grandchild of Brigham Young, and legend has it that Brigham's last words were, "How is the new grandson?"
Mahonri's Salt Lake high school experience was notably short-one day! He claimed he had "more important things to do." The more important things were repairing the family furniture and modeling figures. In 1897, determined to satisfy his interest in art, Mahonri took a job at a bicycle repair and stationary shop in order to pay J. T. Harwood for art lessons. Describing his study of art, Mahonri said, "I have always drawn, and since I was 18 have consciously tried to learn to draw. I have loved and studied all the great draftsmen, but have always gone to nature for my material. I have tried to make good drawings, not drawings that look good."
Mahonri learned about the national art scene by reading Harpers and Scribners magazines. He drew, painted, sculpted, and worked to save enough money to study in New York City. In 1899, Young left Utah to attend the Art Student's League in New York City. Once there, Mahonri studied under the academic muralist Kenyon Cox, learning his approach to Representationalism. The New York experience was an eye opener for the Salt Lake-born Mahonri Young.
Back in Utah, Young took a job with the Salt Lake Herald as a photo-engraver. His dream was to save enough money to travel to Paris. Once in Paris, Young's years were full of academic study. His real education, however, took place in the classrooms of nature, the studio, and the museum gallery. As he studied, Young became aware that he tended to paint linear action studies which related more to sculpture than to painting. For this reason, he shifted his focus to sculpture, and although Young experimented in the modernist approaches of abstract forms, he always returned to realistic expression to pursue his interest in capturing the human figure in motion.
A Stylizing Social Realist, Young was the winner of numerous awards and commissions on both local and national levels. During his life, he completed approximately 120 sculptures, 300 etchings, 1500 watercolors, more than 100 oil paintings, and thousands of sketches.
The Art
MAHONRI MACINTOSH YOUNG (1877-1957) Salt Lake City/New York
Factory Worker, c. 1938
bronze, 45-1/2" x 26" x 14" (115.5 x 66.0 x 35.3 cm)
Gift from Blaine & Louise Clyde & W. W. Clyde Co. 1984.006
Utah's most famous New York-based artist, Mahonri M. Young, spent the Great Depression teaching at the Art Student's League and doing work for the American Pavilion at the New York "World's Fair" of 1939. His Factory Worker and his Farm Worker were included in the decorative architecture of the pavilion.
Young's Factory Worker ennobles the industrial laborer. No other American sculptor has better represented the laborer in action; bone, brawn, and sweat. Young depicted the worker, the blacksmith, the scrub woman; all as heroes of progress.
Concepts
Visual Art Core Curriculum - Utah State Office of Education
Under the Standard of Making, this print can help the student:
- see how to use simplified forms such as cones, spheres, and cubes to begin drawings or sculptures of complex figures.
- explore the design possibilities of a three-dimensional object.
- explore three-dimensional forms using one or more of the following sculptural processes:
- Additive: add small amounts of materials until the form is achieved (for example, clay pot or a found-object sculpture).
- Subtractive: removing or carving away parts from a solid mass (for example, stone or wood sculpture).
- Indirect: the form is shaped from one material, such as clay or plaster, then a mold is made of the form and another material such as bronze or plaster is poured into the mold. Several copies can be made.
Under the Standard of Perceiving, this print can help the student:
- define space in two-dimensional artworks (height, width, and implied depth) and three-dimensional forms (height, width, and actual depth).
- discover how empty spaces and the spaces surrounding a sculpture are thoughtfully used to make a three-dimensional work of art.
Under the Standard of Expressing, this print can help the student:
- explain possible meanings or interpretations of this sculpture.
- invent possible stories that may explain what is going on in this sculpture.
- discuss how an artist's work may be different if it is displayed publicly as opposed to being displayed at home or in private.
Under the Standard of Contextualizing, this print can help the student:
- explore personality or achievements of a person by examining a portrait of them.
- explore sculptural forms from various cultures (for example, Stonehenge, Easter Island figures, totem poles, Olmec heads, Tikal temples, African masks, ancestor figures, Buddhist stupas) to determine their significance within each culture.
© Copyright 1997 Springville Museum of Art
All rights reserved
|
