Mabel Young facts for kids

Mabel Young (born August 18, 1889 – died February 8, 1974) was a British artist. She spent most of her life painting beautiful landscapes in Ireland.

Early Life

Mabel Florence Young was born in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, on August 18, 1889. She was the youngest of seven children. Her father, William Henry Young, owned a business with horse-drawn coaches.

Mabel went to school in Ryde. When motor cars became popular, her father's coaching business struggled. Because of this, Mabel became a seamstress, which is someone who sews clothes.

In 1914, she moved to Dublin, Ireland. She worked there as an assistant to her sister, who managed the housekeeping at the Shelbourne Hotel. Mabel experienced some big historical events while living in Dublin. On Easter Monday in 1916, she had to avoid gunfire while walking home from Phoenix Park. Later, during the Irish Civil War, a stray bullet shot through her living-room window in 1922. Luckily, she was not hurt.

In 1924, Mabel met the famous painter Paul Henry while on holiday in Kilmacanogue, County Wicklow. She became his art student. Later, she started running a guesthouse called Carrigoona Cottage in Kilmacanogue. The writer Mary Manning often visited this cottage. Her time there even inspired her play Storm over Wicklow (1933).

Artistic Journey

Mabel Young first showed her artwork in 1928. It was at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) with a painting called Sugar Loaf mountain. She continued to show her paintings at the RHA until 1961, exhibiting 32 works in total. Her Sugar Loaf mountain painting was also shown in New York at the Helen Hackett Gallery in 1928.

In 1929, Paul Henry moved into Carrigoona Cottage with Mabel. He built an art studio there. Mabel also contributed to an exhibition of Irish art at the Tailteann Games in 1932.

Mabel had her very first solo art show in 1933. It was held at the Country Shop in St Stephen's Green, Dublin. In the summer of 1938, she and Paul Henry visited the Twelve Bens area in Connemara. Henry was gathering ideas for his upcoming art show. In 1939, Mabel had another solo show in Dublin, where she exhibited Summer flowers in a vase.

In 1940, the Combridge Fine Art Gallery at the Shelbourne Hotel displayed several of Mabel's paintings. These mostly showed scenes from Wicklow, like Lough Dan and the Sally Gap. She also had paintings of areas in the south of France. In 1942, her painting The white rocks, Killarney was shown at the Hotel. In 1944, she exhibited The beech wood in November with the RHA. That same year, her work was part of a show called Irish Artists at Goodwin Galleries in Limerick.

Around 1946 and 1947, Paul Henry began to lose his eyesight. Mabel helped him by writing down his autobiography as he spoke it. The book, called An Irish portrait (1951), was dedicated to her.

In 1950, Mabel and Paul moved to Bray, County Wicklow. After Paul Henry's first wife passed away in 1953, Mabel and Paul got married in 1954. Mabel's paintings, including Lough Mask and Dingle Bay, Co. Kerry, were featured in the An Tóstal exhibition in Bray in 1954. She continued to paint even after Paul Henry's death in 1958. She held a solo show at the Ritchie Hendriks Gallery in Dublin in 1962.

Later Life and Legacy

Mabel Young was not as famous as some other artists, but her work is still appreciated. She painted in a loose, impressionistic style, which means her paintings looked a bit like dreams or memories, with soft brushstrokes. She often used watercolours and oils to create studies of the woods and valleys of Wicklow.

Mabel Young passed away on February 8, 1974, in a nursing home. She is buried in St Patrick's churchyard in Enniskerry, County Wicklow.

Her notebooks are kept at the Ulster Museum. The Hugh Lane Gallery has one of her watercolours, Autumn beech trees, and an oil painting of flowers. Most of her watercolour paintings are now part of private collections.