“Paintings from the Alberta Temple,” Ensign, July 1978, 40
Paintings from the Alberta Temple
Works of art occupy a prominent place in most Latter-day Saint temples. Mural paintings in the creation, garden, and world rooms of older temples provide appropriate settings for portions of the temple ceremony that take place there. Paintings and sculpture of religious subjects in other parts of the buildings help to set a reverent and contemplative mood.
As the Alberta Temple neared completion in the early 1920s, several Latter-day Saint artists were sent to Canada to paint the murals. (See Ensign, July 1977, pp. 6–11.) In addition to murals in the three ordinance rooms, the architects also provided space in the chapel, baptistry, and terrestrial room for bands of paintings along the top of the walls. These murals treat various scenes of sacred history relating to the Savior’s atonement.
Paintings in the chapel and baptistry were the work of A. B. Wright (1875–1952), professor of art at the LDS University in Salt Lake City. Known for his landscapes and portraits, he had studied in Paris at Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
LeConte Stewart (1891– ), a younger artist who had studied with A. B. Wright before attending the Art Students’ League in New York City, painted scenes from the life of the Savior in the terrestrial room. A talented landscape painter, he also did the murals in the creation room and supervised the decorative painting throughout the building.