[6] Young's twin brothers, Winfield Scott (Winnie) and Waldemar (Wally) were born on July 1, 1880; they grew to be successful, a newspaperman and a screenwriter respectively.

[1] At eleven years old, his mother bought him a woodcarving kit from which he carved a four-inch bas relief of Julius Caesar from a fence post.

[22] Furthermore, Young liked to quickly sketch an observation which he would later turn into a drawing, but being a traditionalist, Harwood viewed this technique as cheating and an "artistic crime".

[24] Young saved money earned as a Salt Lake Tribune portrait artist, but took his subsequent demotion to an engraver as a blow to his ego.

Even though he contracted the Spanish flu, Young became manager of the photoengraving shop for the Herald and saved enough money to travel to Paris, France, in 1901 to study at the Académie Julian.

He found that he could not stomach anatomy classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, not because of cadavers, because he had not yet made it to that point in the lectures, but because of the overwhelming stench of un-showered students and sweat which gave him unbearable headaches.

[41] He nervously sent Man Tired and The Shoveler to the American Art Association show in 1903 and achieved great success.

His sculptures were sent to the New Salon in Paris for liberal art, were placed in the main gallery, and received critical acclaim.

[44] In New York, on his way to Paris, Young participated in an amateur boxing match and broke his thumb which prevented him from sculpting for a few months, so he attempted water coloring instead.

[55] Young finally received more commission when he and Lee Greene Richards completed a mural for the Isis Movie Theatre, using themselves as models for the characters.

[56] However, there were few career prospects in the United States, as the art scene was dominated by conservative juries who were unwilling to take a chance on unknown artists and were uninterested in unique or groundbreaking styles.

[74] He visited Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah to get inspiration and then returned to New York to complete the project with his colleague Howard MacCormick.

[79] In fact, Young believed the emerging styles of surrealism and abstract expressionism that began to appear later in his life were "a greater threat than Communism".

[69] In 1926, E. W. Marland commissioned a statue of a pioneer woman; he invited twelve artists to submit sculptures to be considered for the monument.

[69] In 1929, Young crafted a bronze of Joe Gans for Winfield Sheehan, a Fox Film executive at the time.

[87] After returning to New York, Young proposed marriage to Weir a few times, but she hesitated having never been married and feeling responsibility to care for her aging stepmother.

He decided to lobby U.S. senators from Utah to gained federal funding for the project which offended committee member John D.

John Fairbanks, a younger artist, had already completed prominent statues and memorials for the LDS Church; he was Young's fiercest competition.

[102] After he was granted the contract, many of the artistic qualities sought by Young were vetoed by representatives from Utah state government, the LDS Church, and descendants of pioneers.

For example, Young wanted pioneer leaders in realistic clothing like they would have worn when entering the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.

[11] The monument was dedicated on July 24, 1947, on the one-hundredth anniversary of Brigham Young's party reaching the Great Salt Lake Valley.

He was angry when he was denied the money and eventually became frustrated enough to write to the president of the LDS Church George A. Smith directly.

He created a six-foot monument of Brigham Young seated for the Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building.

Young died in Norwalk, Connecticut, on November 2, 1957, from the result of bleeding ulcers complicated by pneumonia; he was eighty years old.

[111] The size of his work ranged from larger monuments to small sculptures which he typically did in the social realist style.

[11] His most recurring subject matter included animals, Native Americans, the boxing ring, ranch life, and laborers.

[114] He was proficient in various mediums and techniques such as etching, drawing, watercolor, oil, gouache, and sculpture, which included his lesser known work on medals and reliefs.

[35] Young's sculpture of fighting boxers, Right to the Jaw is characteristic of Rodin's style with its curves and opposing diagonal movements.

[51] Young's experience as a sketch artist for the Salt Lake Tribune gave him a spontaneous style that he believed benefited his art.

[121] Guy Pène du Bois said, "Mahonri Young belongs among...those who of the strain of Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens, Goya, Renoir, and Millet...he is a rare sculptor in America".