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Kenneth Victor Young

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Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

36 3/8" x 35"
Kenneth Victor Young
Kenneth Victor Young
Kenneth Victor Young
Kenneth Victor Young
Kenneth Victor Young
Kenneth Victor Young
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

36 3/8" x 35"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

36 3/8" x 35"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 36"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 36"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

49" x 47"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

49" x 47"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 57" x 72"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 57" x 72"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 72" x 57”

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 72" x 57”

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 30"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 30"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

46" x 54"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

46" x 54"

Inquire
Green Bird, 1972

acrylic on canvas

60" x 53"

Green Bird, 1972

acrylic on canvas

60" x 53"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

58" x 64"

Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

58" x 64"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"
Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"

Installation of Continuum at American University Museum, 2019

Photo: Greg Staley
Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"

Installation of Continuum at American University Museum, 2019

Photo: Greg Staley
Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"

Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"

Inquire
Untitled, 1977

acrylic on canvas

40" x 64 1/4"

Untitled, 1977

acrylic on canvas

40" x 64 1/4"

Inquire
After, 1978

acrylic on canvas

48" x 72"

After, 1978

acrylic on canvas

48" x 72"

Inquire
Hard Blues, c. 1980

acrylic on canvas

47 1/2" x 60"

Hard Blues, c. 1980

acrylic on canvas

47 1/2" x 60"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1980s

acrylic on canvas

70" x 37"

Untitled, c. 1980s

acrylic on canvas

70" x 37"

Inquire
Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"
Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Installation of Continuum at American University Museum, 2019

Photo: Greg Staley
Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Installation View
Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Installation View
Untitled (signature detail), 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"
Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Inquire
Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"
Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Installation View
Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Installation View
Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Inquire
Nile Valley, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Nile Valley, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Inquire
Aurora Borealis, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"
Aurora Borealis, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"
Aurora Borealis (detail view), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"
Aurora Borealis (detail view), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"
Aurora Borealis, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"

Aurora Borealis, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"

Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

22" x 30"
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

22" x 30"
Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

22" x 30"

Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

22" x 30"

Inquire
Blue Nile River, 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"
Blue Nile River, 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"
Blue Nile River (signature detail), 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"
Blue Nile River, 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"

Blue Nile River, 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"

Inquire
Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

36 3/8" x 35"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

36 3/8" x 35"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 36"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 36"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

49" x 47"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

49" x 47"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 57" x 72"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 57" x 72"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 72" x 57”

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

Approx. 72" x 57”

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 30"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

37" x 30"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

46" x 54"

Untitled, c. 1970

acrylic on canvas

46" x 54"

Green Bird, 1972

acrylic on canvas

60" x 53"

Green Bird, 1972

acrylic on canvas

60" x 53"

Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

58" x 64"

Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

58" x 64"

Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"

Untitled, c. 1975

acrylic on canvas

42" x 50"

Untitled, 1977

acrylic on canvas

40" x 64 1/4"

Untitled, 1977

acrylic on canvas

40" x 64 1/4"

After, 1978

acrylic on canvas

48" x 72"

After, 1978

acrylic on canvas

48" x 72"

Hard Blues, c. 1980

acrylic on canvas

47 1/2" x 60"

Hard Blues, c. 1980

acrylic on canvas

47 1/2" x 60"

Untitled, c. 1980s

acrylic on canvas

70" x 37"

Untitled, c. 1980s

acrylic on canvas

70" x 37"

Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Untitled, 1996

acrylic on paper

23" x 29"

Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Sun Ra Dance (The Powers of Ten), c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Nile Valley, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Nile Valley, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 48"

Aurora Borealis, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"

Aurora Borealis, c. 2000

acrylic on canvas

60" x 42"

Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"

Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

28 3/4" x 43 1/2"

Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

22" x 30"

Untitled, c. 2000

acrylic on paper

22" x 30"

Blue Nile River, 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"

Blue Nile River, 2010

acrylic on paper

25" x 40"

Biography

Kenneth Victor Young - Artists - About Bethesda Fine Art

Kenneth Victor Young in front of Red Dance, National Gallery of Art

Kenneth Victor Young (1933-2017) had a far-reaching career as an artist, teacher, and museum professional. After studying physics and earning his B.S. in Fine Art from the University of Louisville, where he met fellow student Sam Gilliam, he moved to Washington, D.C. in 1964 and began painting abstract forms with washed acrylics on unprimed canvas. Young taught at the Duke Ellington School and the Corcoran School of Art and had an illustrious 35-year career as an international exhibition designer for the Smithsonian Institution. His extensive travels helped inform his cosmic abstract style of painting. A love for jazz influenced the movement and vitality of his work. His early paintings are distinguished by floating orb motifs, a fusion of brilliant colors held together in molecular suspension. Young described his artistic philosophy as “bringing order out of chaos.”

For over 40 years, Young’s art has been shown in group and solo exhibitions around the world. His one-man show at the Corcoran Gallery in 1973-74 solidified his place as a significant Washington Color School painter, alongside artists like Tom Downing, Kenneth Noland, and Morris Louis. Describing the process in his early works, Virginia K. Adams, Ph.D., in her catalog essay for the 2018 University of Maryland exhibition, “The Language of Abstraction: Ed Clark, Richard Franklin, and Kenneth Young,” writes, “He often painted on the floor, pouring acrylic paint onto unprimed canvas and diluting it with water to make it flow and become absorbed in unpredictable patterns. Young sometimes used an airbrush to soften edges, which gave his orbs the appearance of floating…Some later paintings—notably...Blue Nile River (2010)—offer evidence of a turn to landscape.”