British artists' suppliers, 1650-1950 - Y

A selective directory, to be revised regularly, 1st edition 2006, 2nd edition 2008, 3rd edition October 2011 (*revised entry, **new entry). Contributions and corrections are welcome, to Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

Resources and bibliography Introduction

Yallop & Grace, Old St, London by 1781-1787, 122 Old St 1788-1830 or later. Colour manufacturers.

One of the principal colourmen supplying Rudolf Ackermann (Ford 1983 p.46). Listed as Yallop & Grace 1781-90, Yallop, Grace & Johnson 1788-99, Yallop & Grace 1798-9, Yallop, Grace & Yallop 1799-1805, Grace & Yallop 1805-9, Yallop & Grace 1810-28, Grace & Yallop 1829-30; later directories have not been consulted. As a firm of manufacturers supplying the trade, rather than a supplier to artists, this business has not been examined in detail.

*Percy Young, 137 Gower St, London WC 1882-1904, 131 Gower St 1905-1920. Publisher, importer and manufacturer of artists' materials.

Percy Young (1854-1930?) served the Slade School of Art, which had opened in 1871. He was preceded at 137 Gower St by J.D. Hirst-Smyth & Son in 1881 and, like Hirst-Smyth, initially described himself in listings as 'publisher, depot for supplying the Slade School of Art with english and foreign artists' materials'. He advertised as being immediately opposite University College (The Year's Art 1892).

Young was recorded in censuses, in 1881 as a wholesale stationer, age 26, born Sydenham, son of a solicitor, Thomas Young, and in 1901 as a dealer in artists’ materials, age 46, wife Florence age 46, with two young daughters and a son. Young made claims for his business as having been established in 1826, according to an advertisement in the literature of Madderton & Co Ltd (qv), featuring Roché’s pastels among other products; he acted as an agent for Madderton’s Cambridge colours, 1897. He also sold Lefranc’s panels and canvases (trade catalogue, 1894, see Katlan 1992 p.269). He published J.G. Vibert’s The Science of Painting, 1892, and Jacques Blockx’s A Compendium of Painting, 1894. He had an account with Roberson, 1881-1908 (Woodcock 1997). In 1885 Young claimed to be ‘In direct Communication with six of the principal Continental Artists’ Material Manufactories’ (The Year's Art 1885), as well as selling Roberson’s oil colours and Winsor & Newton oil and watercolours and canvas.

Canvas marks have been recorded from the 1880s onwards (information from Cathy Proudlove). Among his customers was Gwen John in her early years, e.g., the canvas for her Self Portrait of 1902 (Tate, see Hackney 1999 pp.105, 205 n.9). Other canvases from the 1900s and subsequently include Walter Sickert’s L’Americaine, 1908, and Spencer Gore’s North London Girl, 1908/9, Mornington Crescent, 1911, and The Artist’s Wife, 1913 (all Tate, see Morgan 2008 pp.134-5).

From the 1910s and 1920s, Harold Gilman’s Interior with Mrs Mounter 1916/7 (Ashmolean Museum, information from Jevon Thistlewood), Lucien Pissarro’s Wild Boar Fell, Brough, 1914 (Manchester Art Gallery), Wise Lane, East Knoyle, 1917, stamped: PERCY YOUNG,/ GOWER STREET,/ LONDON,/ W.C. (Sotheby's 26 November 1997 lot 12), Hastings: Mist, Sun and Smoke, 1918 (Ashmolean Museum, see Jevon Thistlewood, ‘Lucien Pissarro’s Paintbox’, Ashmolean Magazine, no.60, 2010, p.21) and Dartmouth, 1922 (Manchester Art Gallery), and Frederick James Porter’s Peonies in a Yellow Vase, 1921 (Ashmolean Museum, information from Jevon Thistlewood).

Other customers included Gwendolen Raverat (sketchbook, 1913, Fitzwilliam Museum, PD.56-1994) and Dora Carrington, who when in debt in 1916 wrote of 'Black abuses, and threats from Percy Young! Which threw me back again into despair'. The following year Carrington mentioned the death of Young's son and two nephews in the war and his fury against the government (David Garnett (ed.), Carrington: Letters and Extracts from her Diaries, 1970, pp.38, 74). The business closed in 1920 when Young reached the age of 65.

*William Young 1872-1882 or later, Young & Marten by 1884-1899, Young & Marten Ltd from 1900. At 36 Broadway, Stratford, Essex by 1874-1878 or later, 100 Broadway by 1882-1886, 5 Romford Road, Stratford by 1882-1884, Caledonian Works, Romford Road 1886-1922 or later, Romford Road by 1928 to 1982, Grove Crescent Road, Stratford 1982-1988 or later. Merchants and manufacturers, white lead and oil and colour warehouse, later also artists’ suppliers and stained glass artists.

The firm of Young & Marten, builders’ merchants, is described as having been founded in 1872 (Helen C. Long, Victorian houses and their details, 2002, p.104, accessed through Google Book Search). In 1885 Henry Aldridge Marten and in 1893 Harry Holdich Marten (1852-1921) were partners in the business of Young & Marten, lead and glass merchants. In census records Harry Holdich Marten was recorded in 1881 as a lead and glass merchant, with his wife and three children, and in 1911 as chairman of the business. He died in 1921 (London Gazette 15 August 1893, 1 July 1921). In 1995 the business, by now trading as Y&M Realisations Ltd, was put into liquidation (London Gazette 17 August 1995).

Young & Marten Ltd’s trade catalogue, c.1900, listed oil colours prepared by Barnard (qv), Reeves and Winsor & Newton, tin colour boxes, brushes for oil and watercolour painting, Winsor & Newton easels, canvases, watercolours prepared by Winsor & Newton, Reeves, Rowney and Barnard, drawing papers and drawing boards, mathematical instruments, L. & C. Hardtmuth (qv) drawing pencils etc (Illustrated Catalogue of Artists’, Architects’ & Draughtsman’s Colours, Brushes, Paper, Inks, and Other Requisites, 16pp). Young & Marten Ltd was stocking Winsor & Newton materials in 1925 (Artists’ Colours & Materials, 36pp, Winsor & Newton catalogue with Young & Marten cover sticker). The business was still selling artists’ materials in 1959 (The Artist, vol.56, February 1959, p.xii).

Canvases supplied by the business include Harold Percival’s The Ship Zuleika of Leith, 1897, marked: YOUNG & MARTEN/ DEALER IN/ ARTISTS’ MATERIALS/ AT STORE PRICES/ STRATFORD LONDON E/… (Trinity House, Maritime Museum, Leith, Edinburgh, information from Ailsa Murray, 2010).

Found a mistake? Have some extra information? Please contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.