Church Museum Exhibits Book of Mormon Art

Paintings of Book of Mormon events by three outstanding artists who specialized in the subject will be on display this year at the Museum of Church History and Art and at the South Visitors’ Center on Temple Square.

Paintings by Danish immigrant artist C. C. A. Christensen, who pulled a handcart to Utah, are now being exhibited in the foyer on the lower level of the museum.

Many of Brother Christensen’s early works were painted in response to the Church’s invitation to artists a century ago to illustrate stories from the Book of Mormon.

Brother Christensen’s Book of Mormon paintings were originally issued by the Sunday School for classroom use and were later published as lithographic prints.

Paintings in Brother Christensen’s “Life of Nephi” series show Lehi’s family as they build a ship for the journey to the New World and portray events until Nephi makes metal plates to record their history.

More recently, several other LDS artists have illustrated stories recorded in the Book of Mormon. The most widely recognized are those by Arnold Friberg, who received a Sunday School commission a half century after Christensen did his work. Brother Friberg’s paintings, published widely by the Church, are on permanent display in the South Visitors’ Center on Temple Square.

Another artist, Minerva Teichert, completed another frequently used series of Book of Mormon paintings in the late 1940s. These paintings will be part of a March 18–October 11 exhibition at the Church Museum.

The Christensen Book of Mormon exhibit will be displayed through September 11. It will be followed by another Book of Mormon art exhibit created by children, who are being invited to illustrate favorite Book of Mormon stories and submit them to the museum. Deadline for submissions is June 30. Persons wishing additional information should contact the Museum of Church History and Art, 45 North West Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.

Photography by Philip S. Shurtleff