Comments on: “What Shall I Do?”: Paid Employment for Mormon Girls, 1927 — part 8: The Artist

By: CurtA

CurtA — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:41:16 +0000

Ardis,

Linda has a very large landscape as you enter the Salt Lake Temple just to the left of the recommend desk as I remember.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:56:32 +0000

He he — I’m thinkin’ circa 1966, David.

CurtA, I confess I haven’t heard of the current artists you name. I’ll correct that lack — thanks for the referral. I’m very glad that there are people who can earn a living for themselves (not just their grandchildren) with fine art.

That *is* an interesting omission, Clark. If wonder if it means anything; that is, did she somehow not think of that? or was the likelihood of a newcomer breaking into that field so negligible as not to warrant mentioning? (But she has warned of other difficulties, so that probably wouldn’t be her reason for leaving it out.) Now I’ll always wonder …

Isn’t that true, kew! It feels to me that she gives all the right encouragement, without false expectations. Practical through and through.

Thanks, all.

By: David B

David B — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:31:37 +0000

I find it interesting that, though she remains focused on local opportunities, she doesn’t immediately leave off talking about art services even though they were located in the East.

Also, this makes me wonder when resin grapes first entered the Mormon cultural lexicon as those things frequently “in the bowl of the console set on table or buffet”.

By: CurtA

CurtA — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:47:40 +0000

I wonder if Minerva Teichert, the age 39, might have seen this while she was painting a large mural on a canvas stretched on rough lumber in her ranch kitchen in Cokeville, Wyoming? The concept that only dead people’s art sold for high prices would have read true for her. The paintings she donated to BYU in exchange for her children’s tuition would now sell for “dead men’s prices”. Maybe Linda Curley Christensen, who has painted the scenes in six temples and has six paintings in the Conference Center would enjoy seeing the 1927 article. Her paintings in private galleries command very dear prices. The same is true for Kathryn Stats, another LDS artist who has risen to national recognition. Paint on, ladies!

By: Clark

Clark — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:15:42 +0000

Interesting that no mention was made of magazine illustration, as this was written during this specialty’s “golden age” (Think Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wythe, Howard Pyle, etc.)

Most of the advertising work the author describes would shortly be taken over by photography as soon as good color film was developed.

By: kew

kew — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:47:47 +0000

That these things are not really art, I will grant you. Probably Rembrandt would turn over in his grave at the sight of some of them. But they are honest work, and pleasant for many girls to do, and they can be made quite profitable.

Again, I appreciate her practicality.