"Study for Allamanda Lane," Watercolor on paper, 1992
Stephen Scott Young (b. 1957 Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American artist best known for his watercolor paintings and etchings that depict everyday life on the east coast of the United States and the Out Islands of The Bahamas. Often painting genre scenes of quotidian life, Young's work is noted for his strikingly realist use of watercolor and eloquent simplicity of subject matter done in the American realist tradition. Young's copperplate etchings evidence a strident attention to detail and intricacy that suggest the influence of Rembrandt and Whistler. Though the images he creates are often nostalgic, his work deals with contemporary issues. Art historian Henry Adams wrote of Young in the late 1980s: "He is like one of those prospectors who has gone back to the tailings of an abandoned mine and where others saw only useless rocks found quantities of untapped, undiscovered gold."[1] He has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and has work in major American museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Greenville County Museum of Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.
Biography
Young's first interest in art arrived during his childhood when his mother gave him picture books of Caravaggio and Vermeer to copy. When he was fourteen years old, his family moved to Gainesville, Florida. Young attended the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where he was trained in printmaking and began to paint with watercolor. In 1985, Young won first prize in a national art competition held by American Artist magazine. Soon after, he traveled to the islands of the Bahamas, which he has been depicting since. In addition to the Bahamas, Young has painted rural scenes of everyday life from the coastal northeast and southern United States, especially Vermont, Floria, the Carolinas, and the Californias
"Pierre," copperplate etching, 1998
In May 2012, Young began exhibiting a retrospective of the past twenty-five years of his career painting the Bahamas. The opening at Christie's in New York City coincided with the publication of Once Upon an Island: Stephen Scott Young in the Bahamas by art historian William H. Gerdts.
Young is referred to as "the Winslow Homer of his day," with high-demand work.[2]
He has been described as "A virtuoso realist in the classic tradition," and "an anomaly on the modern scene."[3]
Young has been married since 1981 to Anna Farrington, who was a fellow art student at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. Farrington is a seventh-generation descendant of Bahamian settlers. The couple has two daughters.[4]
Etchings and silverpoint drawings
In addition to painting, Young has contributed a significant part of his career to developing the technique of etching and silverpoint drawing. Trained in printmaking at the Ringling School of Art and Design, Young keeps a press in his Florida studio.
In 2007, Young had his first solo etchings exhibition at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama.[5]
In 2012, Young exhibited etchings in Adelson Galleries Boston's Post War Works on Paper show.[6]
Selected bibliography
Gerdts, William H. (2012). Once Upon an Island: Stephen Scott Young in the Bahamas. New York: Adelson Galleries.
Solo exhibitions
2013 – "New Works by Stephen Scott Young," Morris and Whiteside Galleries, Hilton Head, SC[7]
Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, Alabama
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Further reading
Benoist, Laurent. "Stephen Scott Young," The Art of Watercolour Magazine March–May 2014[11]
Benoist, Laurent. "Stephen Scott Young," L'Art de l'Aquarelle (France)[12]
Wallace, Daniel. “Southern Masters: Stephen Scott Young," Garden and Gun Magazine October–November 2013[13]
Martin, Alison. “American artist’s watercolors offered at Christie’s sale,” The Examiner.com, May 8, 2012
Gerdts, William H. (2009). Stephen Scott Young. New York: Adelson Galleries
“Exhibitions: Stephen Scott Young,” American Arts Quarterly, Summer 2009[14]
Sessums, J. Kim (2007). Stephen Scott Young: Etchings. Alabama: Montgomery Museum of Art: Shuptrines Gallery
Dewberry, Elizabeth. “Stephen Scott Young,” Southern Accents, May–June 2007
“Museum Matters: Artist Stephen Scott Young exhibits copperplate etchings,” Art Business News, April 1, 2007
Leeds, Valerie Ann (1993). Stephen Scott Young: In the American Tradition. Palm Beach: John H. Surovek Gallery.
Kutkus, Kristina Montvidas. “Review/Informed Opinions,” Carolina Arts, June 1999’[15]
“Stephen Scott Young: Human Chiaroscuro," World and I, April 1993
References
^"Stephen Scott Young" by Henry Adams, in "Stephen Scott Young" catalogue published by John H. Surovek Gallery
^"Original works by Calder, Picasso, Stephen Scott Young will highlight Cottone Auctions' Sept. 25-26 event".
^Dewberry, Elizabeth "Stephen Scott Young", Southern Accents, May–June 2007
^Shatkin, Asa (2018-03-01). "Stephen Scott Young Watercolors". Surovek Gallery. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
^Stephen Scott Young : Etchings. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, [2007].
^ a b"Post War Works on Paper" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
^"Presenting| New Works by Stephen Scott Young: December 2 – January 6". Archived from the original on 2014-04-17. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
^"Adelson Galleries - Stephen Scott Young - 8 August - 30 December, 2012 - Exhibition Details". Archived from the original on 2014-04-17. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
^"RELEASE: FREEDOM:The Art of Stephen Scott Young".
^"Greenville, SC Event Calendar – Events in Greenville, South Carolina".