A History of Art in LDS Chapels

The General Handbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states that “Artwork may not be placed in the chapel or near the baptismal font.”1 This has been the official policy for over forty years. However, prior to 1980, there were many examples of artwork being placed in the chapel proper.2 These works of art were placed in areas of high visibility, usually at the front of the chapel, and were often chosen (if not created) by local members who sought to beautify their worship space. Each piece of art had a story that was one of meaning to the local congregation. Therefore, the local approach to art that was displayed in many chapels acts as a microcosm that helps us understand the perceptions and views of members of the church toward religious art in general.The quantity, style, and type of art that was commissioned for Latter-day Saint chapels fluctuated greatly from the mid-1800s until the use of art in the chapel was discontinued around 1980. Generally, art was used sparingly in the 1800s with a focus on portraiture and then increased in use and variety throughout the early 1900s, peaking around mid-century with the greatest amount of large, original murals showing scenes from church history, scriptural events, and religious landscapes. Art in the chapel declined after the 1950s due to institutional and cultural trends, eventually terminating in the late 1970s with the official policy. Changes in the quantity, type, and style of art used in Latter-day Saint chapels were reflective of larger trends in church perception toward and use of artwork, trends that continue to evolve today.Much of the Church's complicated relationship with art, particularly in religious settings such as chapels, traces back to its Protestant and Puritan roots in northeast America, from which many early church members originated. The Protestant Reformation led to iconoclast behaviors among some congregations, in which they “attacked the rich material culture of medieval Christianity, destroying stained glass, sculpture, and paintings.”3 The strict Puritan sects “. . . banished [the visual arts] when they had rejected the iconography of medieval Catholicism as idolatrous.”4 Most Protestants weren't as extreme as the Puritans, but they tended to view visual religious art skeptically. Lollards concluded that unnecessary arts in the church encouraged “waste [and] curiosity . . . nature with a few crafts sufficeth to need of man”5 Thus, early American society never placed the emphasis on visual arts that many European societies did,6 and anti-Catholic influences made this even more acute during the 1800s.7This initial lack of emphasis on visual arts carried over into religious architecture—English Puritans originated the use of the term “meetinghouse,” instead of “church,” because the latter term “implied that the building itself possessed a sacred character”; New Englanders, then, built houses of worship that “could not be regarded as itself a holy place.”8 That is not to say that eighteenth-century America was devoid of religious art. Throughout the eighteenth century, Protestants—enabled by new forms of mass media9—began to use religious art for illustrative and didactic purposes, focusing on the educational value of such artwork and eschewing what they considered to be artistic liberties.10This cultural heritage carried over into early Church views and practices toward religious art. Early leaders showed mixed opinions on its use. Some leaders associated art with idolatry or vanity, while others, particularly Brigham Young, showed support for the use of religious art for didactic purposes.11The first examples of institutionally approved artwork came in temples since meetinghouses weren't used until after the Saints had fled to Utah. The Kirtland Temple had little artwork on its walls, reflective of meetinghouses of the era as well as fiscal constraints; but a series of portraits of church presidents who had participated in the dedication, and their wives, was planned and partially hung in the building for a time.12 The celestial room in the Nauvoo Temple also had portraits of prominent Church leaders and members on its walls, a tradition that would carry on into Utah temples.13 Portraits were the earliest form of art that was used in American society, religious or not. As Dillenberger has noted, portraits were not attacked as other art: “. . . seeing the contours of the likenesses of the great, one saw virtue, sometimes godliness, and great deeds . . . Such portraits served a didactic purpose. . . . Moreover, such portraits did not, like paintings, cry out for total attention in and of themselves.”14As the Church was established in Utah and meetinghouses were built, it was usually not general Church leaders but local leaders and congregations who “made decisions about whether and how to display images inside meetinghouses and tabernacles.”15 Meetinghouses were usually individually owned and paid for by local units, so decorating the building naturally fell under local control. Latter-day Saints in the early Utah period were generally too fiscally and culturally restrained to have much visual art in their religious buildings;16 however, the use of portraiture seen in the Kirtland and Nauvoo Temples continued to be seen as an acceptable form of religious art for chapels in Utah. Portraiture consistently remained the most common type of chapel artwork until it was no longer allowed. These portraits were generally not of Christ; there was still a tendency to avoid depictions of deity that hinted at idolatry.17 Rather, the portraits were of church leaders, somewhat reflecting early Protestant views of an orderly society depicted through portraiture, where “everyone had a place . . . [the] praise of God consisted in fitting into the order of things” (see figure 1).18 In 1863, Brigham Young commissioned Dan Weggeland to paint a stylized portrait of Joseph Smith, portraying him as a bust with a decorative background for the Bountiful Tabernacle.19 In Coalville, immigrant C. M. Olsen was commissioned to paint portraits of early Church leaders on the ceiling of the new Summit Stake tabernacle in the 1890s (see figure 2).20 By the end of the 1800s, several meetinghouses had portraits hanging in their chapels, usually of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and other Church leaders.21Another type of art that became popular in the late nineteenth century was images of events in Church history. C. C. A. Christensen's Mormon Panorama, a series of paintings that traced the origins of the Church and traveled the Mormon corridor in the 1880s, showed the benefits of using artwork to teach Church history and doctrine. Church organizations saw the benefit as well, and in an early example of commissioning art as an institution, the Deseret Sunday School Union sponsored a competition for pictures of the life of Nephi in 1890.22 This type of art soon carried over into religious spaces.23 The earliest well-known example is the frescoes painted on the ceiling of the Assembly Hall (at Temple Square) by W. C. Morris in 1880, which depicted several events in Church history, including Moroni showing Joseph the plates, the conferring of the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, and all six temples of the dispensation up to that point.24 In 1894, C. C. A. Christensen painted a large mural of Joseph receiving the plates from Moroni at the back of the Ephraim Tabernacle, with painted curtains on the side to give it a theatrical feel.25 As Rees notes, these early murals were illustrations of the Church's claim on divine truth; they “would reinforce . . . [the] general argument of Mormonism's central truth-claim. . . . ”26 This developing pattern of depicting Church history events would receive more attention into the artistic influences were in the nineteenth century, including the a popular used throughout the was painted on the of the Assembly and several including the of were painted on the of the in These were in society, and their use in religious settings was not of in the Protestant was the that painted in the on Temple in The use of art in would with the of temples in and the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, American society saw a of using artwork in religious use of religious paintings, and stained was by a an emphasis on culture in the late and which church and in the of the not through their but through the visual by their American with religious art due to mass to more educational to the of art to and and to This even into religious such as the Church with over of murals depicting that the by Protestant congregations and for large mural paintings of among and decorating chapel these images were to and and to the of religious art in American was also in the Church's use of art, in a and Church members were to and the to art throughout the late 1800s and early the of John and John who traveled to to in for decorating the but many other Latter-day Saint including A. and and many others, also in These larger cultural of receiving and from The of these the cultural of art in Utah and the with an of and a emphasis on landscapes. The who traveled to and painted for the temples were often commissioned to for artwork, in temples and chapels, to a for the use of art in religious by an the use of artwork in out that with and that in served in and and that be and to the that art is a to the need for art in their chapel, the for a was a to the for the their which to for building their chapel, to also the of large in saw their for a of Christ with in of a who had in their their be a to a such as when painted a mural of the of the in the as an of the of In other the art was a form of such as when a of Christ for the in of a building art was local leaders and members usually or at the of the art. one of first commissioned paintings, was made for the at the of the who also the and what in used the from in to a mural showing Christ with painted by In the a mural painted by is to have been by John M. In many it the was to on a but the of the local leaders was of to on a up the to the for In members of the with the of a American in their the was to an was for the was an or a usually on the fiscal and Some were to have well-known in or near their congregations who and all works for their a usually would a from a well-known in the artwork for chapels throughout Utah and throughout and throughout on members or with such as when the a John of the of for a when a of a mural for their in or when of of paintings for the Some were to have well-known their who painted a mural for the while murals in the Joseph painted a mural for the while murals for the these often on local even to In then was the to a of Christ for their In the local the around paint a mural for their and the was so with that they commissioned a mural from in paintings were by a who painted as a Some even to the as when the commissioned a mural of Christ from a local art in or when the as to paint for their some influences were as painted on the ceiling of the religious art in Latter-day Saint chapels usually fell into common Church history events, religious and scriptural the by such as C. C. A. Christensen and Dan Weggeland in the late 1800s, artwork that depicted events in Church history was As Rees has noted, Latter-day Saints regarded as the of works of like other Protestant didactic art that be used for was for religious W. C. in the Assembly Hall were one Moroni the was placed in several chapels, including the Union Stake in hanging in the the Stake hanging in the Utah and the it still in the figure In a large mural for the that showed many events in Joseph the of the Aaronic and Melchizedek the Kirtland and Nauvoo Moroni at at in would paint several scenes depicting Church history events in an style that became in many the of these depictions on Joseph and the other examples The of these as art in chapels in the early century, is in due to the Church's continued emphasis on Church members had and their heritage one the of that their place and in history has been of for the Latter-day Saints from the . . . The of was to teach Latter-day Saints the central to their and to to the that they were of a and . . . as the Church a period of at the of the century, a emphasis on Joseph and as the of the led by Joseph Smith, was The story and of the continued to in Church and in this of it became a of Joseph divine of these artwork depicting the Joseph Smith, and the early (see and local would local events, but even these tended to still focus on more did several paintings in the depicting who had the such as the paintings hanging in the and chapels (see figure A. painted the for the In other more local scenes were was commissioned to a large for the chapel of had the a mural was commissioned in for the chapel to the of the that had in that these paintings were didactic images that on showing what the considered to be However, a few more examples mural by Joseph to the in the the at in to the such as the on the and the Temple the in the in the the and (see figure this on painted art, other forms of artwork tended to focus on events as made for the Temple depicted the it was for in and other depictions of the were eventually made for in Brigham and in and have stained depicting Joseph receiving the plates (see figure for the depicting Joseph receiving the plates and showing the plates to the and were for chapels in several for religious art that to in chapels was an emphasis on religious landscapes. of the who traveled to Utah in the late 1800s were from with the artistic influences of which on and However, the for was to the the School was during the the Church and regarded well for and of painted in a style where “. . . the and is they in The of nature the of an or . . . one this a of in chapels most depicted the of Church history, the of to the that painted murals for the depicting of the of the of the the depicting the (see figure painted a mural of the in in the in mural in depicted the mural by in the chapel the and in one (see figure These were the events that place at these were not as the of the itself to the of the By and large, the emphasis was on the Church's early history, the who in the building to Joseph and the of the of on the Church in in as well as showed Temple as it at the the congregations to Church and the Church as a (see figure few of that had no to Church history but were instead scenes of large of in the in a view of local by for the for the or of and in the Stake Generally, however, scenes were to the Church's Protestants sometimes in the in religious art, Christ too sacred to be American artwork portraying the in the early 1800s However, the that about an increased use of religious art in Protestant also more images of The era a new of the church the art that be in the These led sects to the of their heritage that material of images of Christ were more common in American society, with a to use Protestant that depictions of Christ were somewhat in the early era of the earliest Utah paintings was Dan in of Latter-day Saint depictions of like many Protestant during this were of The of which art to toward and a of Latter-day Saints images that as a . . . continued to display a for In the painted a few of Christ one of which hung in the chapel (see figure Dan Weggeland The for the in (see figure other examples be Jesus the by for Christ in by in for the in or Christ on the of by for the in in of images were Christ the was by for the in (see figure and by in for chapels in and of like of American in the were usually also of depictions of Christ would in years. painted a large mural of Christ for the in (see figure painted original depictions of Christ for in and in and In at the of painted a large mural of for the These murals were still didactic in depicting Christ in scriptural However, some depictions from didactic settings to more such as the mural of Christ in in the showed a Christ at with a to and the being by (see figure Such depictions were the the of scriptural events of life were but still paintings, of and an at the of Joseph of were for the in (see figure did a large of the for the (see figure from the of Mormon were depictions of the their into chapels in and the 1950s to be the in of and of art placed in were many of large, commissioned works in this and in the that fiscal were of an and art was still culturally by many congregations, in American as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day during this many Latter-day Saint chapels did not have artwork, but chapels did that it was not and usually not However, after the the use of art in chapels would eventually with an official church policy its use it the late chapels continued to have commissioned art into the it was still when the was to The of chapels that had art, in the of the century, would instead common of religious commissioned by the Church or not. were still by local members and leaders, and so trends toward popular art be by the most common was of which be seen hanging in of chapels by the Church's in the late not the was popular in the at as a portrait of the during the of the That was in its of and it also showed how local congregations religious art, even for sacred religious seen hanging in chapels portraiture common and often depicting the of the and paintings of Christ from the however, artwork to have and in early years. The in the use of artwork was cultural and By the American religious was generally into a or on the of The was an that from the use of on Church a toward more with one that church building with focusing attention did not the of the American religious art was also toward and that were to be by Church members and As noted, the church leaders did not have many to to in the art to the type of art that they was for church several were also to the of chapel in the the Church had an to the of of built at this used a By the the Church's building on of which the for artwork such as and stained In the Church all artistic and decisions in a other in the was from artwork to The of meetinghouses continued to from the local to the institutional In Church the and were The in fiscal was reflective of a in and to building of and of meetinghouses did not a in art in the However, it was reflective of a in the of art. became in and art because the Church as an was in the 1950s and Church organizations were commissioning art that would well-known among its members the from the for of Mormon or the for illustrations of the life of Christ for the among other These paintings among the most common hanging in meetinghouses the the of was over artwork in Church and a more of art for official Temple and art in the late century, using the of paintings used in meetinghouses the to this the Church still had never artwork in In the early century, in of early Church that murals not be in but in they that visual such as still not be used during the use of in the sacred until the late 1970s that the Church artwork from being placed in that there was no official the new policy was to local and official of when this policy came about is but the earliest example in when the was that their be and that be no in the chapel to from until the that the policy became official and as it that “. . . paintings, or other works of art not placed in the chapels, or baptismal of art may be placed in other of the building with from the of the . . . The in the as it no longer art in and that other artwork in the building be also an for artwork that had on display for many in the chapels of then, the of the policy has been the the in the most general which the from not to not the Church the to even the official has been for the in but the that the Church the and of meetinghouses in a The Church to chapel artwork, as it a of the Church to continue to chapel artwork, it would from the the new and would give to also that at some Church leaders that artwork was a to sacred that “. . . the have pictures or murals in chapels longer is that the chapels were made to be of have an art in then is an on art and has their the is that to be houses of worship and not have the decorative pictures in members from to that the use of artwork in the chapel was to a or no Church that the of art among Church leaders was by general trends all including the toward religious that were more devoid of a from the Church's on the a from art, that instead of and they it or with then they . . . The to a of Church and and the of . . . In this has in more with on the and in the the the Latter-day Saint Church's of in this period the in the chapel fell the approved for of and it was it would to As one noted, . . . Church leaders . . . were not to the of but also use the as a of the worship in and perceptions of that or not, the and perception of Latter-day Saint leaders and members toward the of artwork in the many artwork that was hanging in the chapel prior to the policy has been to in other the artwork remained because of the of the that to their artwork, particularly the was to the policy in in a of the chapel in the Church to the but was so much that it was that in a of the paintings from the . . . so that the building would be in with a new decorative The to the and the paintings were in the Church the that the chapel a mural by was the mural be painted of the the Church and to the mural instead of paint it the policy of the Church is to paintings that still hanging in a chapel on an the art would to the artwork or the generally to other including the of the its and its also into In most the is to the or the However, in some a chapel has been placed in the as the for in and the in among many the high room for a in the Stake in one the cultural In the original mural was with a new when the building was and a new chapel the the mural on the from the century, art has a and temples have This came about due to a emphasis on the by Church leaders, as well as in the art toward a more art style that with Church leaders and art and art in the early century, it to be seen whether the in the the use of art in chapels and meetinghouses generally has more attention in years. the of a in the the Church a of to and all art in In some the was made to original murals and with for and Some of these such as the of works from meetinghouses in and has in about the institutional and local of art in the art in chapels is still artwork has also under in years. In early the Church a policy of art in this showed the of Church to use art to reinforce the Church's central at the the Church approved paintings for reflecting the of of the policy from Church a Art to the of art in As a the Church is commissioning art for meetinghouses for the first in its These new art into meetinghouses in the in that the Church's of art may as it Church's relationship with art in sacred has over the of its history and continue to its use of art has the that most religious and what of art or not. Art is a to reinforce and Church but art is also to and while The Church's relationship with art continue to the and