As you probably are aware, the place currently called Utah represents a large and diverse landscape. With its arbitrarily drawn borders, this almost-a-rectangle state in the middle of the American West encompasses a remarkably diverse geography. From Rich, Cache, and Box Elder counties in the north to Washington, […]
By the end of the 1860s locomotives could travel at a rate of roughly 30 to 40 miles an hour. In an age of jet travel and fiber optics this may not sound like much — you may be traveling twice this pace while reading these words — but in the 19th century, this was life-altering speed. Together with photography and telegraphy, steam locomotion was believed to be an annihilator of time and space. Never before in history had humans been able to travel at such a rate, communicate instantaneously over such great distances, and see the entirety and variety of the world in a print. Together these cutting-edge technologies transformed the way humans engaged and perceived the world — a world that now seemed a little bit smaller.
When the Utah Museum of Fine Arts closed its doors January 18th to begin installing a state-of-the-art vapor barrier in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building, many thought its programs might go into hibernation for over a year as well. Not so. An ambitious attempt to continue its […]
Thinking about my favorite piece in the UMFA collection, I am overwhelmed with memories. I was the collection photographer for the museum from 2006-2014, and I saw every piece in the 20,000+ collection—from a giant stained-glass dragon sculpture with interior lights and incense burners in the nostrils, to […]
A pair of marble lions from 15th-century Italy flanks a wide opening between two of the UMFA’s European art galleries. Modestly scaled, these little-noticed figures are each barely 2 feet long and less than 10 inches high. The lion on the right is calm but alert; on the […]
“The activity of actually making the painting, its successes and defeats, frequently is the most important factor we feel in the work, not simply how it ended up.” —Tony Smith I must have been among the last tourists to encounter the UMFA collection in its previous home, just […]
Each fall and spring semester, I accompany my upper division art history students from Westminster College to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts so they have the experience of viewing global art in person, resulting in a research paper. After a tour of the galleries, I steal away […]
On January 18th, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts will be closing its galleries to upgrade the vapor barrier system in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building on the University of Utah campus. The project is expected to take a year, with the galleries expected to be […]
On January 18th, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts will be closing its galleries to upgrade the vapor barrier system in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building on the University of Utah campus. The project is expected to take a year, with the galleries expected to be […]
Contemporary art is not your thing. So, when you visit the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, make your way up the broad staircase and spot the colored plastic bottles and piles of sand that “pass for art” in the Phyllis Cannon Wattis Gallery, you immediately hang a hard […]
Constable is known for depicting the British sky more accurately than his rival Turner: He painted it gray. It is true that there is a great deal of ‘grey’ in British painting . . . some even downbeat,” writes Salt Lake City artist and gallery owner Karen Horne […]
Do you find the three hours of gallery stroll isn’t enough for your monthly fix of art? Well, head to the UMFA for a pre-stroll, check out the great UMFA faculty show and get your art on early. The Salt Lake Gallery Stroll and the Utah Museum of […]
In 1968, I discovered Krishna. That year, I took a spiritual journey from being a University of Texas at Austin theater student and anti-Vietnam war demonstrator to a student of the Bhagavad Gita and chanting the Hare Krishna mantra in Los Angeles. After several weeks of instruction, I was initiated […]
The nineteenth-century Utah artist Alfred Lambourne (1850-1926) loved Great Salt Lake. Nestled within a basin, the body of water he referred to as his “inland sea” was his source of adventure and joy, his faithful companion and as such, his preferred place for solitude. His relationship with […]
Travel should change your vision. So should an art exhibit. When the two combine, well . . . life is good. I recently spent time in Cyprus, a trip that serendipitously served as a fruitful primer for the Daniel Everett exhibit now up at the UMFA. Cyprus is […]
Take a look at the making of Boys of Bonneville, the perfect film to get you in the mood for the UMFA’s upcoming SPEED exhibit.
