Edward Dragon Young, 1921-2011

Alfonso Angel Ossorio Y Yangco was born in 1916 on the Island of Luzon in Manila, Philippines, the fourth of six boys. His mother, Maria Paz Yangco (Pacita), was of Filipino-Spanish-Chinese descent and his father, Miguel José Ossorio, founded a large sugar refinery in the Philippines, Victorias Milling Company, in 1919 that is still in production today.

Ossorio spent much of his childhood in England with his mother and two younger brothers, Frederic (Eric), and Robert (Bobby), attending Catholic preparatory schools. He came to the United States in 1930 to attend the Portsmouth Priory, a Benedictine high school run by monks in Providence, Rhode Island from 1930-1934. Ossorio became an American citizen in 1933, after which, he began his undergraduate training at Harvard (1934-1938). Despite his father's resistance, while at Harvard, Ossorio concentrated in Fine Arts, taking classes taught by Edward Waldo Forbes and Thomas Whittemore, among others. His thesis was titled "Spiritual Influences on the Visual Image of Christ." It was during his college years that he met many mentors and peers who would be influential to him throughout his life including Eric Gill, Philip Hofer, Lincoln Kirstein, and Paul Cadmus. During his summer vacations, he would study with Eric Gill at Gill's workshop, St. Dominic's Guild, in Sussex, England. There he researched medieval art and began creating wood engravings. After his matriculation from Harvard, Ossorio spent a short time studying at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), learning egg tempura techniques.

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