Donna Poulton’s Reuben Kirkham: Pioneer Artist
A review of Donna Poulton’s biography of pioneer artist Reuben Kirkham, recently published by Cedar Fort press.
Hilma Mole Payne
A profile of Hilma Mole Payne, on the occasion of her retrospective at the Springville Museum of Art.
Utah’s First Color Photograph: Leo Hafen’s 1908 Lumière Autochrome
The first color photograph in the state of Utah: we know who created it and have a description of what it looks like, but we don’t know if it still exists. In 1908, John Leo Hafen created the first color photograph in the state of Utah, using the […]
Florence Truelson – Found
In our November 2011 edition of 15 Bytes Tom Alder took a look at the mystery of Florence Truelson, an eccentric Utah artist of the first half of the twentieth century. As Tom reported, the builder of a unique house on the west side of town – known […]
Checking Our Accounts
On the occasion of our ten-year anniversary, Tom Alder reexamines some of his old columns and shares a few new stories he has picked up along the way.
Have You Seen This Lee Greene Richards?
A local family looks for the portrait of their mother painted in 1936 by Lee Greene Richards.
G.I. Joe Wilson: Utah’s Joe Wilson Lowes
by Kandace Steadman Action figures and cartoon characters live in the work and real life of artist Joe Wilson, a forgotten artist in the chronicle of Utah art. Joseph Francis Marion Wilson, better known as Joe, was born in Salt Lake City in 1913. He spent his early […]
Howell Rosenbaum
Painting mocking modern artists, by David Howell Rosenbaum, courtesy Clayton R. Williams The course my art history research takes often leaves me emotional. I cannot comprehend the sacrifice that artists must make in order to put their talent and message out there. Maybe I’m too much of a […]
Marxism and Dinosaurs: The Fanciful Art of Gerhard Ernest Untermann
Marxism. Fanciful naïve art. Vernal. I doubt any of us would be able to connect these three terms were they to appear on one of those comprehensive college entrance exams requiring you to conclude how they are all related. But I like that they are all connected, probably […]
Barren Sageland and Towering Heights: Cornelius Salisbury and the Lure of the West
As I approach these columns, I generally start with the usual background material (born, died, did a bunch of stuff in between), supplemented by search engine snippets sent my way by my beloved editor Shawn Rossiter. Ever since Rossiter mentioned Utah Digital Newspapers as one of his sources, I have […]
Paulmar Thorsten Jansen Fjellboe [1873-1948]: A Formula for Success
A signature style and a catchy name to put on the signature are helpful when trying to make it as an artist. I can tell when Vladimir Ashkenazy is playing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 because he does such a superior job. His name, though, doesn’t exactly roll off my […]
Idealized Realities The Life and Art of J. Leo Fairbanks
I once made the statement that John B. Fairbanks’ greatest legacy was not his two years in Paris as an LDS art missionary(1890-92) nor his large body of work (primarily landscapes). His true legacy, I have reasoned, is his progeny of talented children and their offspring. The family […]
Flowers and Feuds Part 3: Surviving the Legislative Response
The first part of this history of the early days of the Utah Arts Council appeared in our November 2008 edition. The second part appeared in our January 2009 edition. At the end of the internal struggles that disrupted the Utah Art Institute between 1902 and 1904, the “American-trained” camp seemed to […]
Notes for Bob & Bill Cupid & the Richards Girls Stories of Love and Art in Utah’s History
If for no other reason than that health insurance isn’t cheap, good sense would suggest that for love artists should look outside their own immediate circle — say, to lawyers and doctors and such. But stodgy, clean-cut Good Sense is no match for the shock and awe campaigns […]
Torlief Knaphus
Though by lineage I’m 100% British, since I come from Knudsen Corner and remain in the minority of those who use the hard “k” sound for Knudsen instead of “Nudson” or “Noodson,” in a way I’m an honorary Scandinavian; or so I told myself this weekend when I […]
Bailout Blues: Federal Art Projects in the ’30s
During the past few months, I must have had an average of ten phone calls per week either telling me who to vote for or asking my opinion about the important matters of the day. One of those important matters, as evidenced by frequent references, was the idea […]
Flowers and Feuds: The Utah Arts Council’s Early Years, Part II
(SEE PART I OF THIS ARTICLE HERE) Though united in the creation and development of a state organization to promote the visual arts in Utah at the turn of the twentieth century, the artists in the state were not immune to the type of personal jealousies and aesthetic […]
Donald Beauregard
Among the list of highly talented Utah artists who passed on decades before reaching their potential is Donald Beauregard (1884-1914). Born in Fillmore, Utah to Mormon immigrant ranchers, he was an energetic and enthusiastic lover of nature and art. A posthumous reports says that at the age of […]
