Artwork of the Week: July 6
Self-trained Latter-day Saint pioneer artist, Reuben Kirkham (1845-1884), took inspiration from the natural landscape of Utah to create a mythologized view of an untouched wilderness. Coming from England during the height of the Industrial Revolution, Kirkham (who crossed the plains in the 1860s) embraced the open expanses of the West and captured sweeping vistas, often during sunset. Having begun by painting scenery in the Salt Lake Theater, Kirkham saw his career kickstarted by his award-winning landscapes like this one. Though he never realized the same acclaim as some of his contemporaries, Kirkham painted murals in the Logan Temple and large traveling panoramas of the Book of Mormon (now lost) like his friend, C.C.A. Christensen.
Although this view of the Great Salt Lake from Bountiful has now been fully engulfed by urban sprawl, the wild nature that Kirkham depicted had already been taken over by pioneer settlements. In highlighting the intense colors of sky and lake, as well as using the lone tree at the left to create a natural frame with the rise of the hill, viewers are invited into an almost paradisiacal scene of Zion, perhaps reminding immigrants of the new life they were starting.
Poulton, Donna L. Reuben Kirkham: Pioneer artist. Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, Inc, 2011.
Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, William C. Seifrit, William H. Gerdts, and Donna L. Poulton. “Reuben Kirkham” in Utah Art Artists. Layton, UT: Peregrine Smith Books, 1991. 34.
