Artwork of the Week: December 2
Painted one year after the conclusion of the Great Depression, Mabel Pearl Frazer’s Desert Grandeur utilizes a soft pastel color scheme to celebrate the quintessential Western American environment. Cool strokes of blue and pink highlight the distant mountain range in the background, while closer, warm peaks appear lower on the horizon. A sea of light green shrubs populates the foreground, leading viewer’s eyes to flow into the distance, emphasizing the vastness of the desert landscape. Likely a view of Grand Staircase National Monument from a distant vantage point in the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona, this painting demonstrates Mabel Frazer’s connection to southwestern American scenery.
Throughout her 94 years of life, Frazer integrated aspects of her cultural identity into her artwork. A homegrown Utahn, she was born and raised in Beaver, a town in the southwest region of the state. Frazer was an advocate for art education and taught at the University of Utah for over 30 years across a variety of media and subjects, including textile design, landscape painting, art history, sculpture, and anatomy. Over a lifetime, Mabel Frazer dedicated her artistry to characterize and romanticize the lands of America’s southwest.
This piece can be viewed in the MOA’s newest exhibition Crossing the Divide: American Art from the Permanent Collection.
