Stephen Scott Young (b. 1957)

Stephen Scott Young has found inspiration in the local people and places around the Bahamian islands since the early 1980s. The present example is a portrait of a young woman named Nikita from the village of Bogue on the island of Eleuthera. Known as Nicki, her unusually tall height and signature headscarf inspired the artist to sketch her first in 2004 and to complete the present drybrush over the sketch in 2010. The artist wrote on the back of the work, "This is Nicki, Bogue Bahamas. I truly love her profile, so dignified." Of Young's portraits from the period, Dr. William Gerdts writes, "Sienna Scarf is by far the finest of them, portraying Nicki as both girl and goddess, with the tall, erect figure shown in profile against a plain white background." (Once Upon an Island: Stephen Scott Young in the Bahamas, New York, 2012, p. 61)