Untitled
Signed John Young. Oil on canvas, 112 x 112 cm.
Provenance
The collection of business executive Nils Nessim (1916–1974), thence by descent.
Nils Nessim was a Swedish businessman and carpet dealer, and the son of managing director and carpet specialist Jean B. Nessim (1887–1946). In 1942, he founded AB Nils Nessim, and during the 1960s expanded the business by establishing Nils Nessim International and Nils Nessims Antiques.
Nils was introduced to the carpet trade by his father at an early age and made numerous business trips to acquire carpets and other objects for the business. He travelled throughout the world and, alongside his carpet dealing, built an impressive collection of antiques and Asian art.
More information
John Chin Young (1909–1997) was born in Honolulu to immigrant parents from China. He displayed an interest in the arts from an early age and was largely self-taught, except for calligraphy lessons he received in Chinese language school as a child. His signature gestural paintings were influenced by this background, reinterpreted through the lens of Abstract Expressionism.
Young’s work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Art, and is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, de Young Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, and Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Young was also an avid traveler and collector who saw these activities as extensions of his artistic practice. Well-recognized for his philanthropy, he long dreamed of initiating a museum that would further art education and benefit the community. The John Young Museum of Art, at the University of Hawaii Manoa, is the culmination of this vision.
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Image rights
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