John Young, Guild of Aviation Artists (1930-2015)
'Beauty and Power'
watercolour and gouache, appears to be a preparatory watercolour for a print published in 1986 for the Royal Air Force Museum on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Flight of the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire, signed by the artist Air Vice Marshal Smith, titled and signed in the mount, watercolour 41cm x 24.5cm, overall dimensions 60.5 x 45.5cm, unframed.

Notes: William John Young was an aviation artist who, as a small boy, was inspired by seeing Sir Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus. He went on to paint a huge range of aircraft from many periods, many of which he had flown, and his pictures were noted for technical accuracy combined with period and location atmosphere. He attended High Wycombe School of Art, 1946–8, then after two years in the Royal Air Force, became a painter, illustrating books and working for manufacturers and air forces. Young went freelance in the early 1960s. He showed with the first exhibition of the Society of Aviation Artists; was chairman of the Kronfeld Aviation Art Society; was a founder-member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, and gained its Gold Medal in 1983 and its chairmanship in 1987. Forty-five of Young's original paintings are displayed in the R.A.F. Museum in Hendon.