In 1890, President George Q. Cannon sent 5 young artists from Salt Lake City to Paris to study painting in preparation of the completion of the Salt Lake Temple. After convincing the Church to sponsor John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, JB Fairbanks, Edwin Evans, and Herman Haag left for the Academie Julian to study painting under the great French Impressionists of the Belle Epoque. In this special episode, we discuss their background training, and impact on Utah Art in the 20th Century.
Grain Fields (1890) by Edwin Evans. Oil on Canvas. Brigham Young University.
Haystacks (1891) by Lorus Pratt. LDS Church Collection.
Haystacks (1937) by JB Fairbanks. Private Collection.
The Threshing Machine (1893) by Albert Rigolot (French, 1862-1932). Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen
The Death of Laban (1894) by Herman Haag. LDS Church.
The Tree of Life (1891) by John Hafen. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection.
The Garden Room. Salt Lake City Temple, c. 1970.
Photograph of the Garden Room in the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1909). Source: The House of the Lord by James E. Talmage (1912).