200 years of Latter-day Saint art: New exhibit paints the picture of a global faith

The “largest and most comprehensive attempt ever” to show the variety of Latter-day Saint art is now open for visitors at the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to museum director Riley M. Lorimer.
The exhibit — representing a “historic effort to understand, contextualize and present the breadth of Latter-day Saint art” — is a collaboration by the museum and The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, an independent nonprofit organization that seeks to be an “an artistic and cultural hub” for members all over the world, inviting people to explore “the wealth of the artistic tradition of Latter-day Saints.”
It was 40 years ago at the Church History Museum’s opening that Ezra Taft Benson, then president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, said: “I can see in my mind’s eye myriads of people, the curious and the critics, the young, the old, the sophisticated and the humble, passing through the doors of this edifice. They will see that the church draws from cultures around the world, yet unifies them with a common theology.”
Featuring 118 works of art from across the globe and spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, ”Work and Wonder: 200 Years of Latter-day Saint Art” will run through March 2024. With another major exhibit ending Oct. 26 (Sacred History: Treasures from the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ), the museum director suggests this is a great month to visit both.
The oldest piece of art in the exhibit is an 1842 painting of Lucy Mack Smith by Sutcliffe Maudsley, a calico designer in England.
That’s a “great story of 19th century art,” suggests Laura Paulsen Howe, art curator for the Church History Museum. “If you jump off the ship (as a new convert) and you design calico, all of a sudden, you get to paint portraits of the Prophet and his family.”
Even with limited money and artistic ability, she said, the early church members “put the best we had on the altar, and we somehow built temples with that, right?”
“We didn’t know what we were doing, but created amazing things. So for me, 19th century art is the story of, ‘I don’t know if I’m able to do this, but I’m called to and I’m gonna make it happen.’”
In our day, “we often allow things that are produced about us to tell our story,” says Mykal Urbina, Executive Director for Center for Latter-day Saint Arts — citing popular musicals or feature films with Latter-day Saint themes.
“But we tell our own story really beautifully,” she emphasizes. And “if people spend time with this art,” they’ll “see a more nuanced interpretation of the Latter-day Saint people.”
In this “complex and comprehensive show,” Urbina continues, “we draw from a diverse spectrum of Latter-day Saint creators” reflecting “artistry from across centuries, continents and creative disciplines.” (Heather Belnap and Brontë Hebdon also helped in the years of curation).
On the wall featuring portrayals of the Savior, for instance, there are paintings and sculptures from Argentina, Germany, the Philippines and China — with an adjacent room featuring art from Tonga, Spain, Australia, Ghana and Nigeria. The exhibit’s variety includes paintings, mixed media pieces, linocuts, ceramics, embroidery, fiber arts, photography, weaving, sculpture, drawings and quilts.
Compared to what people may be accustomed to seeing as a “Latter-day Saint aesthetic” for art, says Ashlee Whitaker Evans, one of the curators for the exhibit, people will come away seeing a artistic scope that is “diverse and unexpected” in a way that expands the “stereotypical sense of what Latter-day Saint art is.”
“Some of these pieces were intended for the widest possible audience,” says Lorimer. ”Others were created as private expressions of faith and devotion.”
“I can’t imagine a more ambitious exhibition than this,” says Glen Nelson, cofounder of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, calling it “a fascinating telling of a 200-year history of visual art and objects by Latter-day Saint artists, including treasures presumed to be lost or that have not been seen for decades.” One such treasure is a stunning, wall-sized portrayal, “Eternal Progression,” last displayed at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.
“The breadth and depth of artistic expression represented in this exhibition is remarkable,” remarks Lorimer. “Latter-day Saints are not a monolith, they’re not homogenous. And I think you really see that.”
“Above all,” President Benson added, he hoped that visitors of the museum would “sense that we as a people are truly dedicated to the proposition that if there is anything virtuous, lovely or good, reward or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
The curators worked to make the experience of walking through the exhibition “one of surprise and delight,” Lorimer says, before qualifying, “not everything here is going to speak to everybody, and that’s fine.”
“Artwork is unique. Different artworks will speak to different people in different ways,” says Evans, one of the curators for the exhibit.
Lorimer points to an artistic etching made out of one individual’s notes from a conference journal as standing out to her. She was also delighted by Trevor Southey’s sculpture about restoration of the priesthood. Compared with static depictions where “hands are on heads” and “nobody’s moving,” she points out how one piece, entitled “The Moment After,” shows hands moving away from heads.
“We aim to show you,” Urbina says, “that art by, for and about Latter-day Saints exists at the highest artistic caliber and is of immense value, both within and beyond our immediate faith community.”
“I think people will be amazed at the quality of art that has been produced within the Latter-day Saint visual culture,” says Evans, describing how the curating experience has “really expanded my view of a global church and what that means.
For those who haven’t felt moved by art in the past, the curators invite people to be open to a new experience. Evans invites patrons in a new gallery to “just sweep the gallery, you don’t have to consume every artwork. Just let your eyes sweep around. What catches your eye and why.”
Evans suggests asking questions of art we’re drawn to — and “even artworks that they are repelled by.”
“Why did the artist put that color there? Or, why did they choose to do that figure that way?”
“Latter-day Saint art is rich and worthy of study and inquiry,” says Lorimer.
“There’s a story in each of these pieces,” adds Howe, referencing the Old Testament in which people stacked (Ebenezer) stones to commemorate important moments and their own faith, “so that when people came by, they would say, ‘What mean these stones?’ And they could remember how much God has helped them.”
“That’s what this show is,” Howe adds. “It’s a collection of stones. So even if you don’t love art, come here and see and say, “oh, what means this piece? What’s going on here? Because I think if you ask the question, you’re going to find incredible stories that will help you in your life.”
“The average time someone spends in a museum in front of any one piece of art is a matter of seconds,” adds Urbina. “And I would encourage folks who come to this show to expand that to a minute or to two minutes, and really look at the craft. Really look at the wall label and the text that accompany these pieces, to understand where this artist is coming from. And then just look at the work.”
“See what you like, see what you don’t like, see what’s unexpected about it. See what surprises you, and see what story it tells you.”
Rather than someone else being “prescriptive” in telling you “how to interpret a piece, or what it means or how they should feel about it,” she adds, “we want that to be a unique and individual experience for everyone who comes to see the show.”
Instead of bringing a child to a museum and simply telling them “this means this,” Urbina suggests watching what a child is drawn to, and when he or she pauses at a painting, saying, “What do you think about that? What do you see in it? Do you like the colors? What is it that you like about it?”
“Do you not like it? Because it’s okay to not like art, too,” she says.
Evans adds that even when art challenges individuals, it can be a “powerful tool for empathy — allowing us to step into someone else’s experience, because we are literally seeing the world or an idea through their eyes in a way that you know is so unique.”
Instead of over-explaining, Urbina suggests allowing a child to talk about the meaning they see. Parents can give younger children a challenge to find something at the exhibit. And if a child is unsure at what they’re seeing, the parent can say “what do you see happening?” After hearing them, t can say, “well, this is this really important story. Let’s talk about it.”
Mykal Urbina describes bringing her 11-year old stepson to the exhibit, and seeing him drawn to a more contemporary, brightly colored, giant red piece depicting the fourth article of faith. After talking about the different elements and what it means, “his eyes got wide, and he said, ‘I get it now.’ And he loved it.”
This “opens an avenue for parents to talk to their kids about their own faith — in “easy” and “organic ways.”
“How we respond to artwork can help us understand our own beliefs, our own opinions, our own feelings and our own experiences better,” says Evans. Not just the art we “adore instantly,” but also “artworks that are more challenging for me,” she adds, “that teaches me about myself as well as others.”
Urbina calls art a “common language of our human experience.” Evans describes how she’s learned that “visual art can speak to us in a way that words can’t, that writing can’t, and especially, I think, with things of the soul.”
“Sometimes it is so hard to articulate in words something that we feel spiritually,” she says, “or that is even beyond our ability to comprehend.” But art can sometimes “do that just miraculously.”
“Maybe not every work of art we encounter, but there will be one or a few, or, you know, a dozen, that will do that.”
Urbina expresses hope that art can allow patrons to “see their own church experience and their own faith in a new way that might connect with someone in a way that maybe nothing else has.”
Howe describes the century-spanning exhibit as an “international and across time, fast and testimony meeting” — one she hopes will give visitors a “sense of who they are.”
Art has the “power to record our collective and individual experience of our faith,” says Lorimer. But it also has power to grow our faith, to invite a spiritual witness of Jesus Christ, and to change our minds and hearts.”