Young, a grandson of the Mormon leader Brigham Young, is recognized for his realistic statuettes of manual laborers under physical strain. In Man with a Pick, he heightened the impact of the muscled worker’s exertions by suspending the heavy tool he is wielding over his bowed head. In Young’s self-described "tribute to honest toil," he reflected in his sculpture not only an interest in the male body and masculinity, but also his advocacy of the work ethic, a central Mormon tenet.
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Inscription: Signed (top of base, between feet): M YOUNG
Marking: Foundry Mark (right side of base): ROMAN BRONZE WORKS INC. N –Y–
Mrs. E. H. Harriman, New York (1918; her gift to MMA)
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Labor in Art," September 5–30, 1938, extended to October 2, 1938, no. 104 (as "Man with a Pick").
Andover, Mass. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy. "Mahonri M. Young: Retrospective Exhibition," September 21–November 12, 1940, no. 7 (as "The Man with a Pick," 1912–17).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Comparisons in American Art and Literature," May 7–31, 1949, no catalogue.
Provo, Utah. B. F. Larsen Gallery, Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University. "Mahonri M. Young from the Brigham Young University Art Collection," January 13–February 3, 1969, no. 21.
New York. M. Knoedler & Company, Inc. "Mahonri M. Young from the Brigham Young University Art Collection," March 11–April 12, 1969, no. 21.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "200 Years of American Sculpture," March 16–September 26, 1976, no. 338.
New York. Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University. "Changes in Perspective: 1880–1925," May 2–June 2, 1978, unnumbered cat. (p. 30).
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 15).
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Human Figure in Transition, 1900–1945: American Sculpture from the Museum's Collection," April 15–September 28, 1997, extended to March 29, 1998, unnum. brochure.
Albany. New York State Museum. "Cast Images: American Bronze Sculpture from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 20, 2007–February 24, 2008, not in brochure.
Frank Owen Payne. "The Tribute of American Sculpture to Labor." Art and Archaeology 6 (August 1917), p. 87, calls it "The Man with the Pick".
Albert TenEyck Gardner. American Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1965, pp. 132–33, ill., dates it between 1912 and 1917.
Rosalind E. Krauss in200 Years of American Sculpture. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1976, no. 338.
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 13–15, ill.
Thomas E. Toone. Mahonri Young: His Life and Art. Salt Lake City, 1997, pp. 89, 178, ill.
Norma S. Davis. A Song of Joys: The Biography of Mahonri Mackintosh Young, Sculptor, Painter, Etcher. Exh. cat., Brigham Young University Museum of Art. Provo, Utah, 1999, pp. 154, 163 n. 30.
Melissa Dabakis. Visualizing Labor in American Sculpture: Monuments, Manliness, and the Work Ethic, 1880–1935. New York, 1999, pp. 142, 144, 255 n. 43, fig. 53.
Joan M. Marter inAmerican Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Thayer Tolles. Vol. 2, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1885. New York and New Haven, 2001, pp. 623–24, no. 286, ill.
Mahonri Mackintosh Young (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1877–1957 Norwalk, Connecticut)
1904, cast by 1914
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