W. Blamire Young b. 1862 Londesborough, Yorkshire, England, UK

Also known as:
  • Blamire Young
  • William Blamire Young
  • Artist (Painter), (Cartoonist / Illustrator), (Draughtsman)
Originally a mathematics teacher,the English born W. Blamire Young established himself as an illustrator, painter, designer, writer and art critic. An article in 'Art and Australia' in 1921 described Young as being '6' 3" high, aesthetic, virile, uniting the Cambridge manner with the Bohemian Spirit (and with) a picturesque and paradoxical personality'.
Keywords: Poster art, Watercolour, Art Nouveau, art and advertising, art criticsm, Beggarstaff Brothers
Talk | Version history | Updated Dec. 29, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1996
Name
W. Blamire Young
Also known as:
  • Blamire Young
  • William Blamire Young
Birth date
9 August 1862
Birth place
Londesborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
Death date
14 January 1935
Death place
Lilydale, Vic.
Burial place
Lilydale, Vic.
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
  • Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator)
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Residence
  • 1862- c.1885 Londesborough, Yorkshire, England, UK
  • 1885- 1893 Katoomba College, Katoomba, NSW, Australia
  • 1893- 1895 Bushey, Hertfordshire (Greater London), England, UK
  • 1895- 1912 Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1912- c.1923 Sussex, England
  • c.1923- 1935 Lilydale, Vic.
Other Occupation
  • mathematics teacher 1885- c.1893 Katoomba College, Katoomba, NSW, Australia
  • Art critic c.1920- 1934 England and Australia
Keywords:
Poster art
Watercolour
Art Nouveau
art and advertising
art criticsm
Beggarstaff Brothers
Arrival
  • 1885
Active Period
  • c.1885- c.1934
Languages
  • English
Training
  • B.A and M.A,, c.1880- 1887 Pembroke College, Cambridge University, England
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • Black and white artists

painter, illustrator, writer and mathematics teacher; arrived from England in January 1885, aged 22. Described by J.F. Bruce as being '6’ 3” high, aesthetic, virile, uniting the Cambridge manner with the Bohemian Spirit (with) a picturesque and paradoxical personality’. Young drew for Lone Hand (including the cover of 2 March 1908 featuring an Aboriginal woman), designed posters, painted watercolours, wrote many articles and two short plays, designed ladies’ gowns and programmes for musical evenings in Toorak and was a teacher of musketry during WWI. Ure Smith (quoted Caban p.55), along with many others, praised his poster work, influenced by the English Beggarstaff Brothers (a.k.a. Pryde & Nicholson). He also illustrated Helen E. Wallace’s Magic Casements (Melbourne, 1925) with three colour plates.

His writings include the article “Fremiet’s 'Gorilla and Woman’”, Lone Hand 1 (June 1907), 226-29. (see Fink monograph).

Young also did the very atmospheric Convict Prison [the old Hobart Gaol] , watercolour and gouache on paper n.d., which includes the prison chaplain Rev. Robert Knopwood on his white horse, Timor, in front of the building along with some Aborigines and a red-coated soldier on guard in front of his sentry box. Apparently it belongs to the historical subjects, like Buckley and Fawkner, he painted between 1901 and 1905.

Writers:
Kerr, Joan
Date written:
1996
Last updated:
2007
associate of
Sydney Ure Smith
1887
Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Graphic Designer), Artist (Painter), Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Printmaker)
associate of
Reverend Robert Knopwood
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Helen E. Wallace
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Buckley
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Fawkner
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Lionel Lindsay
1874
Artist (Photographer), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Norman Lindsay
Artist
associate of
Hans Heysen
1877
Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Bob R. H. Croll
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Clarice Beckett
1887
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Mabel G. Dawkins
1896
Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Bernice E. Edwell
1880
Artist, Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Ann Judith Fletcher
1886
Artist (Textile Artist / Fashion Designer), Artist (Photographer)
associate of
James Flett
1906
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Harold Gye
1888
Artist (Industrial / Product Designer), Artist (Painter), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator)
associate of
Percy Leason
1889
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter), Artist (Industrial / Product Designer)
associate of
Gother Victor Fyers Mann
1863
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Harry Raynor
1891
Artist (Painter), Artist (Draughtsman)
associate of
G. Gayfield Shaw
1885
Artist (Printmaker)
associate of
Charles Troedel
1835
Artist (Printmaker)
associate of
Henry John Weston
1874
Architect (Architect / Interior Architect / Landscape Architect), Artist (Painter), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator)
associate of
Beggarstaff Brothers
Designer
Convict Prison [the old Hobart Gaol]
Date
1901
Australian Artists Colonial to Contemporary : A Spring Exhibition
September 2002- October 2002
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery, Hobart, Tas.
The Australian Landscape
1972- 1973
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
"The Australian Landscape" was a national touring exhibition organised by the Australian Gallery Directors' Council in 1972. The organising gallery was the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the curators were Daniel Thomas (Art Gallery of New South Wales) Ian North (Art Gallery of South Australia) and Frances McCarthy [later Lindsay] (National Gallery of Victoria). Generous funding from the Peter Stuyvesant foundation enabled the curators to travel the country together in order to make considered judgements. The exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia on 3 March 1972, and toured to the Western Australian Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Australian National Gallery (temporary premises), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle City Art Gallery, and the Queensland Art Gallery. The catalogue introduction claims that the exhibition comprised of 'fifty-five of the best Australian landscapes ever executed'. It was characterised by a breadth of vision, with works from every state – including regional galleries and private collections. It is distinguished by having a greater emphasis on colonial works than previous exhibitions, and elevating the reputation of Eugene Von Guerard and John Glover. There were only two works by women – Grace Cossington Smith and Margaret Preston– and none by any Aboriginal artist.
Citations:
  • Caban, Geoffrey, (1983), A fine line: a history of Australian commercial art, (Place: Sydney, New South Wales: Hale & Iremonger, p.55)
  • Hurst, Nevin, (2002), Australian Artists Colonial to Contemporary: A Spring Exhibition, (researcher - Curnow, Heather Place: Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery catalogue (September-October), Hobart, Tas., cat. 60.)
  • Young, W. Blamire, (1907), 'Fremiet's "Gorilla and Woman"', (Place: Lone Hand 1, June, pp 226-29)
  • (1896), Blamire Young second exhibition of posters, (Place: Studio, Volume 7, pp 172-73)
  • Fink, Elly, (1990), 'Young, William Blamire (1862 - 1935)', (Place: Australian Dictionary of Biography, ed. D. Pike, A. Shaw, M. Clark, B. Nairn, G. Serle and R. Ward, vol 12, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, pp 599-600)
  • (1900), [Blamire Young lecture on posters], (Place: Arena, 10-06, p 17)
  • (1900), 'Blamire Young poster artist', (Place: Outpost, 09-08)
  • (6 July 1899), 'At the sign of the poster girl', (Cycling News references: Volume and Number may be misprinted. Place: Melbourne, Vic.: Cycling News, vol. 1, no. 25, p 372)
  • (1898), 'Cycle Posters: How they are drawn: An interview with a designer by a Reflector', (Cycling News references: Volume and Number may be misprinted. Place: Melbourne, Vic.: Cycling News, vol. 3, no. 66, 02-02, pp 16-17)
  • (1996), Australian Prints, (Place: Bridget McDonnell Gallery catalogue (29 October-22 November), Melbourne, Vic.)
  • Lindsay, Lionel, (1935), 'The late Blamire Young', (Place: Art in Australia, Series 3, Number 57)
  • Ingram, Terry, (1981), 'Pumped up poster price inflates art values further', (Place: Sydney, NSW: Australian Financial Review, 07-10, p 43)
  • Fink, Elly, (1983), The Art of Blamire Young, (Place: Sydney, New South Wales: Golden Press)
  • Croll, R.H., (1929), 'Blamire Young: re-creator of history', (Place: Melbourne, Vic.: Herald, 04-24)
  • Bruce, J. F.; et al., (1921), The Art of Blamire Young, (Place: Art in Australia Ltd.)
  • Fink, Elly, (1990), Young, William Blamire, (Australian Dictionary of Biography), Type: article http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/young-william-blamire-9218
  • Thomas, D., North, I., & McCarthy F., (1972), The Australian Landscape, (Published by the Art Gallery of South Australia), Type: catalogue
See also:
  • 'A Print from Johnny Fawkner's Press' 1902, woodcut 15.4 x 15.4 cm (ML copy SSV*PRI 3), Lone Hand (source unconfirmed), (A print from Johnny Fawkner's press / Brings thoughts to gentle minds unbidden / If Johnny then had printed less / Should we be now so hard press-ridden)
  • 'The Poet' (a `Bohemian' to illustrate Victor Daley's verses, Lone Hand, 1 June 1907, (His grey wife labored sick and cold / Dreaming of bread his children slept / And o'er the woe of Queen Isold / The poet wept and wept and wept)