Hilma Mole Payne
A profile of Hilma Mole Payne, on the occasion of her retrospective at the Springville Museum of Art.
Remembering Alvin Gittins
by Elizabeth A. Peterson This month’s Alder’s Accounts column is being guest-written by my friend, former University of Utah Department of Art and Art History chair, and my thesis chair, Professor Elizabeth Peterson. I had planned to write about Alvin Gittins, Utah’s foremost figurative artist, until learned Elizabeth […]
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 […]
Cowboys, Indians and Saxophones: Life and Art of Paul Salisbury
When I see early Utah artworks that reveal something about our history, I’m reminded of a conversation I once had with Bob Olpin. During an American art history class at the U, I was impressed with Bob’s command, not only of art history but American history as well. […]
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 […]
A Brief Explosion of Style: Phillip Henry Barkdull [1888-1968]
Though he lived to be eighty, Phillip Henry Barkdull’s artistic career is known by a short three-year spurt of artistic output cut short by tragedy. Barkdull came to his style late, and years as a teacher meant he didn’t have much time to devote to his own work, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Loaded with Color The Art of John Henri Moser
A couple of years ago, when I was a junior fledgling writer for 15 Bytes, I presented two conflicting stories in the June 2006 edition of 15 Bytes about Henri Moser (1876-1951) and his Logan Ninth Ward Mural. At the time I was a mortgage banker and frustrated thesis writer, […]
It’s Who You Know . . . Or is it? The Art of Louise Richards Farnsworth
One of the monumental challenges in researching early Utah artists is that regardless of how talented the artist may have been or how many paintings he or she may have created during a lifetime, frequently there is precious little written about them. The researcher of primary material may […]
Remembering Dan Baxter
Those of you who have read these pages with any regularity will have noted that this column has typically dedicated itself to reporting on the history and art of early Utah artists. Earlier this summer, however, it occurred to me — after an extraordinary couple of hours with […]
J.T. Harwood: Father of Utah Art
Many consider James Tayor Harwood [1860-1940] to be the father of Utah art, so no mere column could hope to describe his life and contributions to our cultural history. It would be like sitting at the keyboard and writing a 1,500 word essay about George Washington. My first […]
In Memoriam Angelo Caravaglia: 1925 — 2008
Few sculptors have left their mark on the visual landscape of Utah to the same degree as Angelo Caravaglia, a longtime University of Utah professor who passed away early last month. Thousands of us pass by his work everyday; if shown an image of one, many Utahns would immediately […]
Around the Block with Gordon Cope
In Olpin/Seifrit/Swanson’s Utah Art, nestled between LeConte Stewart’s 1937 masterpiece, “Private Car,” and Lee Greene Richards’ well-known, “Dreaming of Zion,” is a painting entitled “Utah Hills, East of Springville.” This gem of a landscape was created by one of Utah’s most revered landscape and portrait artists, Gordon Nicholson Cope […]
Purpose and Legacy: The Paris Art Mission of 1890-1892
One of the factors that first attracted me to the history of Utah artists and art was the Paris art mission of 1890 to 1892. In one of my early Bob Olpin classes at the U, I selected the intriguing, unique mission as the theme for some research. […]
On the Trail with George M. Ottinger
Any description of George Martin Ottinger’s (1833-1917) life reads much like a “lost and found” listing in the newspaper: “Lost: Dog with scar on head; no teeth; has broken tail; missing front leg; answers to the name ‘Lucky.’” Ottinger was born in Pennsylvania to a family who, when […]
On Theatre Walls or in Attic Halls: The Art of Florence Ware
Every Saturday morning, I take a walk from the east Avenues of Salt Lake to the Farmers’ Market at Pioneer Park. I have learned that everything is relative because whenever I mention this weekly walk to anyone, they are astonished. (The distance is only three miles; if I […]
