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Artwork of the Week

Artwork of the Week: Riding the Girder

Riding the Girder
Mahonri M. Young (1877-1957), 'Riding the Girder,' c.1940, oil on canvas, 42 3/8 x 39 1/2 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, purchase/gift of the Mahonri M. Young Estate, 1959.

This Labor Day, we celebrate Mahonri Young- a social realist and grandson of Latter-day Saint prophet Brigham Young. Young celebrated laborers throughout his entire career- both in his art and in his personal advocacy.

Riding the Girder features two young men looming over the then-contemporary menagerie of Industrial America. One actively gazes down at the scenery below, while the other—presumably exhausted from work—rests on the construction equipment. Cloaked in vivid scarlets and gleaming alabaster, the metropolis clearly stands out from the lackluster vestments of the laborers.

Regardless, Young’s attitude regarding this brave new world is left to interpretation. Are the rapid strokes of pastel meant to evoke a cloudy sunrise, or a sky tainted by factory smokestack pollution?

Guest author: Curatorial intern Tessa Haney

Past Artworks of the Week

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'Night Street Scene' by Julian Joseph

July 01, 2025
Artwork of the Week: July 1
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'Studio Interior' by Julian Alden Weir

June 24, 2025
Artwork of the Week: June 24
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"Horse Trough, NYC 9th Ave" by Mahonri Young

June 16, 2025
Artwork of the Week: June 16
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