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Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint

July 27, 2007 - May 26, 2008

 

When Minerva Teichert (1888-1976) attended art school in Chicago and New York in the early 1900s, mural paintings and theatrical pageants were dynamic components of American popular culture. Teichert embraced these popular art forms and used the visual language they provided to tell the stories of her religious heritage and the American West.

"Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint," a new exhibition at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art presented by Zions Bank, will examine how the American mural and pageantry movements influenced Teichert's artistic production through 47 of her large-scale narrative murals. Some of the works in the exhibition come from private collections and have not been seen publicly for many years. The exhibition, which will be on view from Friday, July 27, 2007 through Monday, May 26, 2008, also will explore how Teichert's personal dramatic flair contributed to the theatrical characteristics of her murals of religious and western subjects.

"This is a new approach to looking at Minerva Teichert's work," says Marian Wardle, curator of American art at the Museum of Art. "I hope visitors don't get the idea that this is the only way to look at her work because her work can be examined and interpreted in many different ways. But the influence of mural painting and pageantry is one important element that I think will cause people to look at her paintings in a different light. I hope it will help viewers understand where Teichert was coming from and the culture of the time, because, among other things, her paintings are cultural artifacts of her day."

The aesthetics of pageants and murals are nearly identical. Both were meant to be seen from a distance by large numbers of people for educational purposes. Both convey their messages by highlighting human form and action through the absence of detail. Both spread figures across a simple backdrop -- usually a landscape -- within a shallow space. And both use the same compositional devices to achieve their aesthetic goals: dramatic tableaux, processions, and theatrical poses and gestures. Each of these elements will be explored in the exhibition.

During Teichert's studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York, she became captivated by the educational potential of large murals in public buildings and their capacity to be seen by great numbers of people from a distance. It was during her studies in New York that noted American realist painter Robert Henri challenged her to paint the "great Mormon story." This admonition led Teichert to paint many theatrical depictions of Mormon pioneers, the West and Book of Mormon scenes.

Drama, theater and the cinema played a significant role in Teichert's life. From an early age Teichert participated in dramatic readings and family plays in her home. Wardle says Teichert was a movie buff who regularly attended the weekend movies shown in the Cokeville, Wyoming, Amusement Hall and occasionally made the 30 mile journey to Montpelier, Idaho, to see a show.

Later in life, Teichert studied drama and dance in Chicago along with her visual art studies. During her art instruction in New York, she performed rope tricks and Native American dances to help pay her tuition. As an adult, Teichert directed plays and served for a short time on the committee for a pageant commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' arrival in Utah.

These personal experiences and the popularity of pageants at the time led Teichert to think of her murals as theatrical productions. Before she began work in 1945 on an elaborate mural depicting Bible and Book of Mormon prophesies of the gathering of Israel, she viewed the 1944 version of the movie "Kismet," an MGM picture set in the Middle East, to see "the camels and warm scenes" of the movie, which inspired her sketches or "notes" for the painting. The result, "Return of Captive Israel," depicts a theatrical procession of innumerable figures dramatically parading across the canvas.

Her 1947 commission to paint the World Room in the Manti Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resulted in a procession of richly clad people -- kings and merchants -- pleased with their own abundance and ignorant to the misfortunes of the beggars at their feet.

"An abundance of uncaring people was her conception of the lone and dreary world," Wardle says. "But the profusion of human figures in her Manti Temple mural is more than philosophical. It also involves the stylistic conventions of mural painting and pageantry, where human forms create the story. In Teichert's words, her Manti Temple mural is a 'pageantry of nations.'"

"Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint" will open Friday, July 27, 2007 and will be on view through Monday, May 26, 2008 in the Marian Adelaide Morris Cannon Gallery on the museum's main level. This exhibition is presented by Zions Bank and is sponsored in part by Classical 89 KBYU FM and the State of Utah Office of Museum Services. Initial research for the exhibition was funded by the Brigham Young University Women's Research Institute. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.

 

SELECTED GALLERY GUIDE TEXT

Drama and theater played a significant role in the life of the Rocky Mountain artist, Minerva Teichert (1888-1976). From an early age she joined in dramatic readings and family plays at home. Later, she studied drama and dance along with her visual art training. She also had an enthusiastic appreciation for mural paintings and pageants -- dynamic parts of American popular culture in her day. This exhibition explores how her love of drama was manifested in her murals. By considering her paintings in this context, viewers may see her art in a new light, allowing fresh layers of meaning to emerge.
 
What Is a Pageant? What Is a Mural?
 
Pageants are elaborate dramatic spectacles composed of a series of processions interspersed with dance and staged groupings of figures called tableaux. They are a form of popular theater that involves large numbers of amateur community actors, as in the Hill Cumorah Pageant familiar to many of our visitors. In the early twentieth century Americans participated in pageants of all kinds, causing one observer to declare that Americans had gone "pageant mad." Mural paintings are large-scale wall paintings meant to harmonize with the architecture they adorn. Murals generally tell a heroic story based on historical or cultural themes. A public mural movement flourished in America in the early 1900s when Minerva Teichert studied art in Chicago and New York. She created many of her large paintings during a later mural movement promoted by the federal government in the 1930s. Many of the characteristics of pageants and murals are evident in Teichert's paintings in the exhibition.
 
Gestures and Poses
 
In the painting Trial of Abinadi the figure of the high priest Alma appears on the right in a strange and somewhat awkward pose. This pose denotes "eager interest" in an often used series of gestures called the Delsarte System of Expression that was introduced to America in 1871. Such gestures were used in speech, dance and theatrical productions. Teichert learned this system in her youth and employed it in a number of her murals.
Tableaux Teichert's murals include stage-like settings with posed figures called tableaux, like those presented in pageants and parlor entertainments.
 
Pioneer Family Overlooking Salt Lake Valley gives the appearance of a staged set with actors posed in motionless contemplation. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, professional actors and amateurs performed tableaux as indoor amusements-some even created live enactments of paintings. Tableaux alternated with dancing and processions to make up a pageant.
 
Processions
 
In both performed pageants and painted murals, orderly processions of figures stretch out across stage or canvas. Teichert's painting of mounted Indian women, Moving South (far left), and her Return of Captive Israel (cover) illustrate the beauty and spectacle of parading figures. In early twentieth-century pageants players depicting Indians and white settlers marched across stages in civic pageants across the country. Processions of figures were also featured in religious pageants.
 
Dance and Music
 
The swirling figures in The Book of Mormon mural Love Story demonstrate Teichert's ability to capture the energy and vitality of dance and music from the pageant tradition. The painting is an excellent example of the manner in which she adopted aspects from dramatic mediums and theatrical entertainments of her age for her engaging murals -her "pageants in paint."
 
 

ARTICLE FROM THE MUSEUM'S MEMBER MAGAZINE

In 1945, artist Minerva Teichert (1888-1976) began work on an elaborate mural depicting the Bible and Book of Mormon prophesies of the gathering of Israel. Return of Captive Israel depicts a procession of diverse figures parading across the canvas from left to right. The painted procession includes royalty arrayed in colorful gowns and robes walking alongside horses, camels, servants and the infirm. Shadowy figures in the foreground bow as assembled Israel passes by, and a border with a prayer rug motif surrounds the entire mural.
 
As she began painting Return of Captive Israel, Teichert enthusiastically wrote to her daughter, "Monday I'll get the 'Gathering of Israel' going. I can hardly wait." In preparation for the painting, she viewed the 1944 version of the movie Kismet, a romantic MGM picture set in the Middle East in an Arabian Nights atmosphere. Teichert said she wanted to see "the camels and warm scenes" of the movie and from them made sketches or "notes" for the painting. Her Cokeville, Wyoming neighbor Marie Curtis posed for the central figure of a queen robed in an elegant red garment.
 
Many of Teichert's paintings resemble theatrical productions and were influenced by her characteristic romanticism and flair for the dramatic. As a child, she recited readings and participated in dramatic productions at home. As an adult, she directed plays and served for a short time on the committee for a pageant commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Mormon Pioneers' arrival in Utah.
 
In a 1948 portrait of her daughter Laurie, Teichert portrayed Laurie in the role of the gypsy Carmen, the heroine of Bizet's famous opera. The figure of Carmen/Laurie appears in a red cape and singular headdress, dancing with one arm raised, clasping castanets. Depicted with outstretched hands, the male figure on the left represents Carmen's lover, the bullfighter Escamillo. Sketchy forms of musicians fill the background. The stage-like composition recalls a theatrical tableau.
 
The romantic figure of the gypsy Carmen held a widespread fascination for the American public during Teichert's lifetime, appearing regularly both at the opera and on the movie screen. Teichert projected the operatic romance onto the love affair of her daughter. Only seconds after meeting Laurie's soon-to-be fiancé for the first time, she startled the young man by asking him to pose for the figure of the bullfighter.
 
During Teichert's studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York in the early 20th century, she became captivated by the educational potential of large murals in public buildings and their capacity to be seen by great numbers of people from a distance. It was during her studies in New York that noted American realist painter Robert Henri challenged her to paint the "great Mormon story." This admonition led Teichert to paint many theatrical depictions of Mormon pioneers, Book of Mormon scenes and the West.
 
Not surprisingly, the painted form of the mural was quite similar to the staged, theatrical nature of pageants, which flourished in America until 1925. Both murals and pageants emphasized simplicity of design with little detail, so the impact of the image would be immediate. Mural painters insisted on flat backgrounds unbroken by scenes rendered in perspective. Similarly, pageant experts advocated simple, natural settings that were subordinate to the human figures in the work. An element of pageants that helped to maintain a scene of narrow depth was the procession. Scores of pageants ended and many began with processions, a device that naturally spread the figures across shallow space.
 
Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint, a major exhibition of Teichert's large-scale narrative paintings, will examine the ways in which Teichert incorporated elements of the pageantry tradition into her work, as well as the ways in which her work was influenced by her own sense of drama and theatricality. The exhibition will include costumes and props Teichert used in some of her paintings, as well as small figural groupings she created for a pageant she wrote. The exhibition will also explore Teichert's use of poses and gestures, theatrical tableaus, and processions and will conclude with a narrative frieze made of her well-known murals of Book of Mormon scenes.
 
Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint will be on view from July 27, 2007 through May 26, 2008 in the Marian Adelaide Morris Cannon Gallery on the Museum's main level. This exhibition is presented at the Museum of Art by Zions Bank. Addition support for the exhibition is provided by Classical 89 KBYU FM and the State of Utah Office of Museum Services. Initial research for the exhibition was funded by the Brigham Young University Women's Research Institute. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.
 

IMAGES

To view images of art works in the exhibit please click here. (Composite image courtesy Brigham Young University Museum of Art.)

 

OPENING RECEPTION:

An opening reception for "Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint" will be held Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Lied Gallery on the museum's main level. Light refreshments will be served. This reception is free and open to the public. 

 

EXHIBITION TOURS:

Free tours of "Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint" will be conducted during regular museum hours; however, tours must be scheduled at least one week in advance. Call (801) 422-1140 to schedule a tour.

 

MONDAY NIGHT PROGRAM:

Free family-oriented tours of the exhibition will be offered each Monday night throughout the exhibition. These tours are specifically formatted for families and BYU Family Home Evening groups. During the tour visitors will help in the re-creation of theatrical elements of Teichert's murals, such as tableaux and processions. For more information or to schedule a tour, call the Museum Education Department at (801) 422-1140. 

 

PUBLICATION:

The Museum of Art has published a book in conjunction with this exhibition. "Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint," written by Marian Wardle, curator of American art at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, is lavishly illustrated with 47 full-page color plates and more then 100 black and white figures. Expanding on themes explored in the exhibition, Wardle probes the connection between Teichert's works and her distinctive personality, and at the same time ties Teichert's works to the political culture of her time. The book also includes an extensive chronology of the artist's life, and, published for the first time, a brief autobiography of the artist written in 1937. This publication has been made possible through the generous support of Zions Bank and will be available in September 2007. 

 

LECTURE SERIES:

The Museum of Art will host a lecture series in conjunction with this exhibition. The lectures will focus on historical perspectives of Teichert's life, the early 20th century theatrical conventions that influenced her style and how modern-day pageants relate to her work. All lectures will be presented in the Museum of Art Auditorium on the lower level of the museum at 7 p.m. Two lectures will be presented in 2007 with additional lectures scheduled for 2008. All lectures are free of charge. The lectures this fall will include:

 

SYMPOSIUM:

The Museum of Art will present a symposium related to the exhibition titled "Pageants and Processions: Image and Idiom as Spectacle" on March 7 and 8, 2008. For more information about the symposium, visit the museum's Web site.

 

PODCASTS:

Free podcast audio tours will be available for download for this exhibition. These podcasts will be available to download from the museum's Web site and at the museum's information desk.

 

Editor's note: RL readers may also enjoy:

TFAO also suggests this DVD or VHS video:

Minerva Teichert: A Mission In Paint is a 46 minute video documentary on the art and life of Minerva Teichert. LDS Video says of the video:

Minerva Teichert is one of the most beloved painters in Latter-day Saint history. Her distinctive style of painting can be found in temples, Church magazines, and books around the world. This high-quality KBYU documentary is a fantastic introduction to one of the heroes of the Western and Latter-day Saint artistic traditions...
 
This documentary was written by Tim Slover, who is well known as the award-winning playwright behind the off-Broadway hit "A Joyful Sound," about Handel. The producer was Peter N. Johnson, the man behind "Mountain of the Lord", "How Rare a Possession" and other Church videos, as well as the upcoming Book of Mormon feature film "A Voice from the Dust: Journey to the Promised Land." The director of photography was none other than Gordon Lonsdale, the successful cinematographer of TV series such as Haunted, Providence, Space: Above and Beyond and Northern Exposure.

 

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rev. 3/26/08

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