Young, Florence 1872–1974

Florence Young was born on November 6, 1872, in Fort Dodge, Iowa, the daughter of Issac Marshall Young and Harriett M. (Hutchinson) Young. After graduating from high school in Fort Dodge, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with John Vanderpoel and at the Art Students League in New York. At various times she was a pupil of Kenyon Cox, James Carrol Beckwith, Frank Du Mond, William Merritt Chase, Wilbur Reaser, and Nicolai Fechin. In 1900, while living in Iowa, she identified herself as an artist on the United States Census. By 1920, she was a resident of California, living in Long Beach with her parents. She remained a resident of the state for the rest of her life, relocating to Alhambra, California, by 1930 where she remained.

Florence Young, a painter, engraver, and teacher, is frequently confused in print with the artist Frances Upson Young, who was active in Laguna Beach during the same period. They were, however, two separate and distinct individuals, as well as artists. The confusion may have begun as early as 1932, when both artists were listed in the December 1932 California Arts & Architecture statewide artists directory. A typographical error in the listing for Frances, inadvertently giving her first name as Florence, may be the root of decades of confusion.

Although their respective signatures are very similar, which further complicates proper identification; there are distinguishing features for each. Frances’ signature is like a printed script, letters separated with an elongated tail on the “g” of Young extending left under the name. Frances often signed her work “F.U. Young,” “F. Upson Young,” or just “Young”. Florence signed “F. Young,” “Florence Young,” or just “F.Y.” With Florence, almost always, the top line of the “F” extends far to the right over the Young, while the tail of the “g” on Young extends to the left under the name; the extended letters almost form a rectangle around the name.

Florence was a member of the Women Painters of the West, the Valley Artists Guild, and the Society for Sanity in Art. She exhibited frequently throughout her career with numerous art organizations and galleries in New York, Iowa, and California, including Palos Verde Library, 1938 (first prize); California State Building Exposition Park, Los Angeles, 1938 (first prize); San Gabriel Artists Guild; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; Los Angeles Public Library; Ebell Club; Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art, 1943 (prizes); Friday Morning Club; Artists of the Southwest, 1951; and City Hall, Los Angeles; Greek Theatre, 1955 (award), 1958, Los Angeles, all in California. Her work is in the collections of the Orange County Museum of Art, California and Pomona College, California.

Florence Young passed away on February 10, 1974, in San Gabriel, California.

Biography submitted by Maurine St. Gaudens

Source:
Emerging from the Shadows: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960, Maurine St. Gaudens, Editor, 2016.

The following, from "Who Was Who in American Art" by Peter Falk, is submitted by Cornelia C Moynihan:

FLORENCE YOUNG 1872-1974

"A striking likeness to Edgar Payne's images of the southern California mountains, as well as several other master California plein air painters like William Wendt, Maurice Braun, Selden Gile, Franz Bischoff, John Gamble, Percy Gray, the Wachtels, Hanson Puthuff, Sam Hyde Harris, and more."

Biography:
Birth place: Fort Dodge, IA 1872 (from Petteys)
Death place: Alhambra, CA 1974
Addresses: Iowa; Pasadena & Alhambra, CA from 1932
Profession: Painter, engraver, teacher
Studied: Chicago - AIC, with John Vanderpoel; NYC - ASL, with Kenyon Cox,
Carol Beckwith, Frank DuMond, William M. Chase, Wilbur Reaser, Nicolai Fechin

Exhibited: local clubs and galleries; Yonkers, Des Moines; J.W. Robinson Co.; Sketch Show, San Gabriel Artists Guild; GGE, 1939; LACMA; Los Angeles Pub. Lib.; Ebell Club; Friday Morning Club; City Hall, Los Angeles; Greek Theatre; San Diego, Santa Paula, CA. Awards: Palos Verde Library, 1938 (first prize); California State Building, Expo Park, Los Angeles, 1938 (first prize); LACMA, 1943 (prizes); Greek Theatre, 1955; Artists of the Southwest, 1951.

Member: Women Painters of the West; Soc. for Sanity in Art.

Work: Orange County Museum, Ca., Pomona College, Ca., Iowa Museum

Comments: Ness & Orwig quote a Los Angeles paper, writing of Young: "Art for art's sake and labor for humanity's sake might well be given as the deepest motives underlying her service in the field of art." Contributor to Widening Horizons in Creative Art.

Sources include: WW59; WW47; Ness & Orwig, Iowa Artists of the First Hundred Years, 228-29; Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists.

Born in Fort Dodge, IA on Nov. 6, 1872. Young studied at the AIC with John Vanderpoel and the ASL in NYC under Kenyon Cox, Beckwith, Frank V. Dumond, and William M. Chase. After one year in Holland, she had a studio in Chicago for seven years. In 1923 she settled in Alhambra, CA where she established the Friendly Arts Club. She was a contributor to Widening Horizons in Creative Art before her death in San Gabriel, CA on Feb. 10, 1974. Her oeuvre includes desert and Sierra landscapes, missions, Chinatown genre, and scenes from her European travels. Member: Society for Sanity in Art; Theosophical Society of So. Calif. Exh: Women Painters of the West, 1930-38; Palos Verde Library, 1938; Calif. State Bldg, Exposition Park, 1938 (1st prize); GGIE, 1939; Ebell Club (LA); LACMA, 1943 (award); CPLH, 1946; County Fair (LA), 1954; Greek Theatre (LA), 1955 (award). In: Orange County (CA) Museum; Pomona College; Iowa Museum.