Mahonri Mackintosh Young

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameMahonri Mackintosh•Young
Used nameMahonri Mackintosh•Young
Born9 August 1877 in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA)
Died2 November 1957 in Norwalk, Connecticut (USA)
NOC United States
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

Mahonri Mackintosh Young, a sculptor and painter from Salt Lake City, came from a distinguished Mormon family, as he was the grandson of Brigham Young, second President of the church and first Governor of Utah. Mahonri Young had studied in his hometown and New York before he went for further education to Paris. After his return to Utah in 1905 he began his career as a sculptor. However, it was only after he moved to New York that he had considerable success and won numerous awards. In 1912 he created the Seagull Monument in Salt Lake City’s Temple Square. From 1916-43 he taught at the Art Students League and wrote the book “The Realistic Revolt in American Painting.” His main works were monumental sculptures of Native Americans and projects for 20th Century Fox Studios. Later he turned to social realism and portrayed workers and peasants. He lived mainly in New York, but remained in close contact with the Mormon Church. Even though best known for his sculptures, he was also a painter and graphic artist of note.

Young submitted a total of 16 exhibits in three fields (painting, drawings, sculptures), five of these “hors concours”. His gold medal winning sculpture of two boxers, The Knockdown, a 65 x 78 cm bronze group, is now preserved in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. It was created in 1931 as one of the last of his boxer statuettes. A few years earlier, in 1927, The Winner was produced, also titled Da Winnah in slang. The 84 x 38 x 23 cm plaster model is in the Art Museum at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, a bronze cast in the Springville Museum. Joe Gans is a bronze portrait of one of the first black professional boxers and is located in Madison Square Garden, where boxers consider the statue as a lucky charm. Bob Fitzsimmons was another study of a boxing world champion. The 53 cm high plaster figure is also in the Art Museum at Brigham Young University. The following works were entered “hors concours”: A Right to the Jaw (1926-1927, bronze, 38 x 54 x 26, Smithsonian American Art Museum), Groggy (1926, bronze, 36 x 21 x 21, Whitney Museum of American Art), Bantams (also known as Two Bantams, 1927, plaster, 51 x 26 x 41 cm, Brigham Young University Museum of Art) and On the Button (bronze, 36 x 59 cm, Art Museum at Brigham Young University).

Of Young’s eight paintings and graphic works, he submitted At the Tap of the Gong, a sparsely lit scene of a boxing match, “out of competition”. The painting in oil on canvas (45.7 x 50.8 cm) had already been created in 1906. Beat Him at the Punch was a 1932 etching sized 20.3 x 30.2 cm, a print of which is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Main Street Athletic Club, Los Angeles was based on a drawing. It is more likely, however, that the respective etching was exhibited in 1932. The five Drawings of a Prize Fight numbered I to V could not be identified. There are actual sketches and partly colored drawings of boxing matches by Young, but they cannot be assigned to the entries.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1932 Summer Olympics Art Competitions USA Mahonri Mackintosh Young
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Graphic Arts, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Graphic Arts, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Paintings, Open (Olympic) HC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) 1 Gold
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) AC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) HC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) HC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) AC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) AC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) HC
Sculpturing, Statues, Open (Olympic) HC