William Mark Young (1881–1946) was an American painter and commercial artist, known for his murals and book illustrations. Young was born on March 18, 1881, at

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

, Illinois. He was educated at Upper Alton High School and the

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

School of Fine Arts (now

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. The Sam Fox School was founded in 2006 by uniting the academic units of Architecture and Art with the University's Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to create ...

). He established a commercial arts business in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, before relocating to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He also lived for a time in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio.

Chrysler Motors Exhibit, Chicago Worlds Fair (NBY 415553)

He painted fifteen murals—relocated subsequently to the

Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the List of state and territorial capitols in the United States, state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, ...

—for the Ohio State Exhibit at the 1933

A Century of Progress International Exposition A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositio ...

, (also known as the Chicago World's Fair), and made paintings of other exhibits there. In 1937 he created a set of twelve murals for the walls of the new City Hall in

Marietta Marietta may refer to: Places in the United States *Marietta, Jacksonville, Florida *Marietta, Georgia, the largest US city named Marietta *Marietta, Illinois *Marietta, Indiana *Marietta, Kansas *Marietta, Minnesota *Marietta, Mississippi *Mar ...

, Ohio, as part of the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the

Ordinance of 1787 The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Con ...

and the

sesquicentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

(150th anniversary) of the establishment of Marietta in 1788. In 2012, the latter were removed from the building, cleaned, conserved, and mounted for display. They were then exhibited at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta. A Christmas Carol - illustrated by William Mark Young (cover)

A Christmas Carol - illustrated by William Mark Young (cover)

Among the books he illustrated was a 1939 edition of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

''. He also produced pictorial maps. He died on January 1, 1946, at

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

, Illinois. He signed himself Wm. Mark Young.

Works illustrated

* ''Jaragu of the Jungle'' - Rex Beach (1937) * ''

'' -

(1939 edition) * ''Tom Beatty, Ace of the Service, and the Big Brain Gang'' - Rex Loomis (1939) * ''Gallipolis; Being an Account of the French Five Hundred and of the Town They Established On La Belle Riviere''. merican Guide SeriesCompiled by Workers of the Writers' Program of the

Work Projects Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

in the State of Ohio. Myron Flechtner (author). (1940) * ''A Soldier's Creed and Bible of Americanism'' - Samuel Harden Stille, compiler (1942)

References

{{Authority control 1881 births 1946 deaths American muralists American illustrators 20th-century American painters People from Alton, Illinois Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts alumni