Born in Alton, Illinois, W.M. Young was a commercial artist, printmaker and illustrator who worked in the Chicago area. Nothing else is know about Young except that he made at least one visit to the Southwest, probably in the 1930s.

His image of an eagle dance at Tesuque pueblo gives eloquent testimony to his ability to capture the feel of the ceremony with the dramatic image of the dancer at the forefront of the scene backed by a trio of drummers at the right rear. The quality of Young’s etching technique is exceptional and the areas other than the front facade of the Tesuque mission church are activated with an application of fine ink splatter to provide additional texture to the ground. The dynamic movement of the dancer and the drummers caught in mid-beat make the energy of the scene palpable.

The Tesuque eagle dance was a well-known subject, famously recorded by Gustave Baumann for a popular 1932 woodcut.