135 years ago today - Jun 3, 1890

The First Presidency sets apart John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, and John B. Fairbanks as "art missionaries" to study in France in order to paint murals on the interior of the Salt Lake temple. They reach Paris on 24 July. They are joined by Edwin Evans and Herman H. Haag. Enrolled in the Julian Academy, the art missionaries return to Salt Lake City in 1892 and complete the temple murals. They are not the first formally trained Mormon artists, because C.C.A. Christensen (b. 1831) and Danquart A. Weggeland (b. 1827) both trained at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Contemporary with these art missionaries are three Julian Academy sculptors of Mormon background. Brigham Young's grandson, Mahonri M. Young, wins the silver medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, creates a statue of Brigham Young in the U.S. Capitol, and sculpts the Salt Lake Temple Square monuments to Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and the Miracle of the Seagulls. Cyrus E. Dallin wins the gold medal at
the Panama Exposition and sculpts the Angel Moroni statue atop the Salt Lake temple, and also creates the pioneer monument. Least identified with his Mormon parentage of the three, Gutzon Borglum designs and sculpts Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Mary Teasdel joins the Julian Academy in 1899. She is the first female Mormon artist whose work eventually becomes part of a collection at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]