Jane Younger (1863–1955) was a Scottish artist known for her watercolour paintings and embroidery work.

Biography

Younger was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

into a prosperous family involved in the cotton trade. She studied under

Jessie Newbery Jessie Newbery (28 May 1864 – 27 April 1948) was a Scottish artist and embroiderer. She was one of the artists known as the Glasgow Girls. Newbery also created the Department of Embroidery at the Glasgow School of Art where she was able to ...

at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

and at the school of animal painting at Craigmill run by Joseph Donovan Adam. She also studied in Paris in the studio of

Gustave Courtois Gustave-Claude-Étienne Courtois, also known as Gustave Courtois (; 18 May 1852 in Pusey, Haute-Saône – 1923 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French painter, a representative of the academic style of art. Life Courtois was born 18 May 1852 in ...

and at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. While still a student, she joined the

Glasgow Society of Lady Artists The Glasgow Society of Lady Artists was founded in 1882 by eight female students of the Glasgow School of Art with the aim of affording due recognition to women in the field of art. It has been described by Jude Burkhauser as "the first residenti ...

. Younger's sister Anna, married the publisher Walter Blackie of the publishing company

Blackie and Son Blackie & Son was a publishing house in Glasgow, Scotland, and London, England, from 1809 to 1991. History The firm was founded as a bookseller in 1809 by John Blackie (1782–1874) as a partnership with two others and was known as 'Black ...

in 1889. When Blackie commissioned

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

to design Hill House in

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local governm ...

, Younger was asked to design several pieces for the house, including bedspreads and she also painted a watercolour of the house's garden as part of Mackintosh's interior design for the property. For Blackie and Son, Younger designed bookplates for their specialist ''Prize Books''. In 1902 she visited Switzerland and exhibited work at the Turin Exhibition. Between 1906 and 1922, Younger shared a studio on West George Street in Glasgow with

Annie French Annie French (6 February 1872 – 27 January 1965) was a Scottish painter, engraver, illustrator, and designer associated with the Glasgow School. Biography French was a student of Jean Delville and Francis Henry Newbery, Fra Newbery at the Glas ...

and Bessie Young. She later settled in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

but also painted on Arran and in France. Younger often painted in watercolours and developed a colourful and bold technique, comparable to

pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" wa ...

in effect. She exhibited with the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

, the

Society of Women Artists The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and ...

, the

Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) is an independent organisation in Glasgow, founded in 1861, which promotes contemporary art and artists in Scotland. The institute organizes the largest and most prestigious annual art exhibitio ...

and the

Royal Scottish Watercolour Society The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours (RSW) is a Scottish organisation of painters. The first preliminary meeting of the society took place in Glasgow on 21 December 1877 as a reaction to a lack of interest in watercolour art by ...

. the Cooling Galleries and the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

in Liverpool also held exhibitions. She died at

Crawford, South Lanarkshire Crawford is a village and civil parish in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Crawford is close to the source of the River Clyde and the M74 motorway, southeast of Glasgow and northwest of Carlisle. It has a population of around 300 people and a scho ...

and a gravestone designed by her marks the site of the Younger family tomb in the

Glasgow Necropolis The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typical for the period, only ...

References

1863 births 1955 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters 19th-century Scottish women artists 20th-century Scottish painters 20th-century Scottish women artists Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists from Glasgow Scottish designers British embroiderers Glasgow Society of Women Artists member 19th-century British textile artists 19th-century women textile artists 20th-century British textile artists 20th-century women textile artists 19th-century women painters {{Scotland-artist-stub