Artworks for Doctrine & Covenants 124-136
Our artistic exploration of the Doctrine & Covenants continues! Each month, we'll share artworks from our permanent collection or visiting exhibitions that accompany the coming month's Come, Follow Me readings. You can also subscribe to get email reminders when new artworks are ready or follow along weekly on Instagram or Facebook. We hope that art-lovers everywhere will be inspired by these artworks as they complement their gospel study, family discussions, and church classes with fine art from around the world.
October 27 - November 2
John Hafen was called and set apart as a missionary to Paris – not to preach, but rather to dedicate himself to the study of art.
The year was 1890, and the end of construction on the exterior of the Salt Lake Temple was finally in sight. But what about the interior? What artistic, design, and stylistic choices would truly be worthy of the House of the Lord? Hafen and a few other artists suggested a solution: that the Church send them to Paris to learn from some of the finest artists and teachers in the world. The First Presidency not only accepted but gave them a divine calling as art missionaries. Thus, the Paris Art Mission was born.
This work is one of Hafen's studies for a mural in the Salt Lake Temple. Here, the Garden of Eden is represented as a harmonious landscape filled with plants and animals. His work is a testament to how the Lord uses the talents of his disciples.
What is one of your talents that you can use to serve God?
November 3-9
Responding to “the perils which [he was] called to pass through,” Joseph Smith responded with optimism, saying that “deep water is what I am wont to swim in,” and even instructed the Saints to “rejoice, therefore, and be exceedingly glad” (D&C 127:2).
His response to trials bring to mind Robert V. Bullough’s sculpture, The Prophet, in which a haggard-looking man turns his gaze heavenward as the wind swirls his tattered clothing around him. Bullough’s prophet has clearly seen his fair share of struggles, and each has left its mark. Nevertheless, the figure stands resolute and casts a powerful image in spite of his afflictions.
November 10-16
Section 130 of the Doctrine and Covenants is bookended by reminders of what the Savior has in common with the rest of us: “We shall see that he is a man like ourselves,” and that He “has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as a man’s” (D&C 130:1, 22). He became the Word made flesh, a god incarnate, subject to pain and mortality alongside the rest of his Father’s children.
This painting by Beatrice Parsons shows the precursor to his mortal ministry: Mary’s accepting of the role to be the Lord’s mother. By accepting a role of both grief and glory, Mary prepared the way for Jehovah to become mortal so that the rest of us could become immortal.
How do you feel, knowing how much you have in common with Christ?
November 17-23
Depictions of Jesus' Second Coming often focus on calamity and destruction. This painting by J.T. Harwood, however, shows a much more peaceful reunion. People of all eras unite around the glorious Savior, basking in his light and his love. The scene evokes the promise in D&C 133:33, that those who witness his arrival “shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy.”
What do you look forward to the most when you think about reuniting with the Savior?
November 24-30
Four men. Two about to die. Enemies, unseen, just outside the door.
Gary Ernest Smith’s painting ‘Carthage Jail’ depicts a tense moment on that fateful day when a mob took the lives of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The colors are harsh, almost ablaze, and edges of the canvas are dark, but a light shines on the center where the prophet and his friends await the attack, ready to defend themselves. The tension is palpable. The trauma emanates from every brushstroke. The longer you look at it, the more somber you feel.
John Taylor said of his friend Joseph, “He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood” (D&C 135:3). Though remembering the prophet’s final moments is difficult, doing so also reminds us of his many contributions to the world.
