Through the windows of time, the work and creative endeavours of the students and graduates of Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen has demonstrated that many students are driven by the strongest of wills and creative spirit.
Gray’s School of Art has now existed for some 135 years and in these challenging times of 2021 the current students of Gray’s and recent graduates continue onwards as alumni, each of them on their own journey.
We are often caught up in the web that is our own lifetime and we can miss or forget the achievements of those who came before us. Gray’s School of Art is not merely a physical building but it represents the journeys and achievements of students, alumni and tutors. Gray’s continues to reflect and amplify the spirit to be creative across and through time.
So what of that History?
In the 1800s educational establishments referred to as Mechanics Institutes were being formed in the United Kingdom and Aberdeen city councillors and Industrialists made it their goal to establish an Aberdeen Institute capable of delivering studies in subjects such as Philosophy, Science, Technical Studies and Art.
Art Education in the city would receive a further boost when Gray’s School of Art was created in 1885. This was thanks to local Aberdeenshire man John Gray, a local loon brocht up in Cuminestown, who climbed his own ladder of success through a career in Engineering. His gift of a School of Art would create multiple opportunities for the students of the future.
Lets step back in time to learn a little of the life and times of Henry Wynd Young 1874 – 1923.
The Early Years: From Spa Street Aberdeen to Park Avenue Manhattan
In 1874 Henry Wynd Young was born in Bannockburn. He was born to the sounds of the carpet factory where his grandfather was a pattern designer. His father, John, had just returned from various overseas tours after retiring as a Private in the 74th Highlanders. Along with his wife Bessie and his family, John Young would move and settle in the city of Aberdeen in the following year.
Unfortunately the family suffered the death of Henry’s younger brother Alfred at age 4 and the family, who had lived in the Gallowgate in Aberdeen, moved to Spa Street in the city. Henry’s father was originally apprenticed as a baker before taking up his career in the Army. Once in Aberdeen he appears to have switched occupation several times, perhaps indicating that life was not easy for someone leaving the military at this time. Henry’s other brothers would follow their fathers footsteps and they pursued a career in the military.
Despite these difficult times, wee Henry would choose a different path – The life of an Artist.
What inspired the soft spoken Henry to take up Art and Design?
Where did he gain his creative interest and learn his craft?
Gray’s School of Art: The Student
As a result of an examination in freehand drawing for house painters, Henry was awarded a James Smith Bursary to attend classes at Gray’s School of Art in September 1889. This was only three years after Gray’s School of Art officially opened.
Amongst the various classes Henry studied was Drawing from the Antique. It is conceivable that he worked with casts similar to those featured in the photograph of a Gray’s School of Art interior shown above.
The Smith Bequest, was a gift to Aberdeen School of Art by former Aberdeen man James Smith, who had already found success in North America. This award would ultimately change Henry’s path in life.
Design Class coursework in the School of Art would Include working with Stained Glass and featured the creation of panels in both white and coloured glass, grisaille painting and the creation of figure panels for church and domestic decoration. Techniques which Young would use and develop in his later career. The image above supplies us with a glimpse of the type of work created around the time of his studies in Gray’s in around 1896.
Henry attended classes for several years, along with fellow bursary recipient, Robert “Robbie” D. Strachan. Strachan would also prove to be a highly driven student and would become a hugely successful designer of Stained Glass in the UK and Europe. Both these young mens careers reflect a strength which the School appears to have held at this time.
By the 1901 Census, Henry Young had changed his occupation from House Painter to Stained Glass Designer.
In the following year he would marry and Henry began to travel extensively to work on projects. This included a working trip to Johannesburg. Post cards also tell of his return journey to Scotland in the summer of 1906. A son, Henry Walter, was born only a few days before they set sail for New York City in 1907. This journey was also made with William Smith, a house painter/decorator.
Their planned ultimate destination was to be San Francisco, purportedly to work on the city’s reconstruction following the 1906 earthquake.
Their epic voyage would see them reach the metropolis of New York City and there they would remain. New York would become home for Young.
St Mary’s the Virgin – Times Square New York city Artist’s Sketch 
St Mary’s the Virgin – Times Square New York City
Stained Glass Studio NYC
Henry established his own Stained Glass studio in New York where many notable stained glass artists would train and work under his leadership. Amongst them were Ernest Lakeman, John E. Tarbox, J. Gordon Guthrie, and Valentine D’Ogries.
Henry Wynd Young’s windows adorn churches, schools, private residences and various other buildings throughout the United States. The window above is featured as one of a series of six pairs of Te Deum medallions for the early Episcopal church St Bartholomews on Park Avenue in Manhattan, NY. The church was designed by Bertram Goodhue in 1918.
Young’s work also features in Cathedrals including :
- the National Washington Cathedral D.C.
- Trinity Cathedral Ohio
- Newark Cathedral NJ
St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue on 112th Street NYC. ( the largest cathedral in the world and where Henry Wynd Young’s ashes are interred).
His work also graces many famous churches including
- St Bartholomew’s Park Avenue, NYC
- St. Paul’s Columbia University
- First Presbyterian Church Lake Forest
- Emmanuel Church Boston
- Grace & St. Stephen’s Church Colorado Springs among others.
Between working on churches, he also produced work for many leading designers and for patrons including the Rockefellers, the Morgans, the Reids, E.F. Albee and the Macys.
St. Elizabeth’s Chapel located in Tuxedo Park, upstate NY was built in the early 1920’s by descendants of Alexander Hamilton and J.P. Morgan in memory of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the daughter of William Pierson Hamilton and Juliet Pierpont Morgan Hamilton. The detail seen above is from The Adoration of the Magi window created by Henry Wynd Young.
Young not only represents the success story of a Gray’s School of Art alumnus but also a story of discovery, adventure, hope and achievement. Born to a poor and obscure family he would build on talents and skills first discovered and developed at Gray’s. From humble beginings in Spa street he went on to achieve lasting world impact.
From his arrival in the U.S.A to his untimely death at the height of his career on Christmas Day in 1923, Henry Wynd Young worked hard and earned the reputation as one of the two most important leaders of the New Gothic Movement in the United States of America.
RGU Art and Heritage wish to thank his great granddaughter, Tracy Strayer for sharing images and the story of a remarkable man.
Instagram @henrywyndyoung
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