Minerva Teichert’s Brushstrokes: Honoring Latter-day Saint Pioneer Women

The Great Salt Lake sets the backdrop as four Latter-day Saint pioneer women are depicted with a fresh harvest, ready to trade with their California neighbors in dire need of fresh food to prevent scurvy. This scene welcomes visitors to the Minerva Teichert & Pioneer Women of Salt Lake exhibit at Anthony’s Fine Art in downtown Salt Lake City. Entitled “Utah Women Save the Day,” this painting is part of a gallery housed in a historic church featuring marvels like an ancient Roman mosaic and Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained-glass window of “The Good Shepherd.”

The Minerva Teichert exhibit, complete with her artworks and the journals of Latter-day Saint pioneer women, transports visitors back in time. It offers insights into how these women shaped the West. As art consultant and expert Micah Christensen explains, the scene Teichert paints occurs just a few years after the Miracle of the Gulls. In 1848, when Latter-day Saint pioneers settled in the Salt Lake Valley, crickets devastated their crops, putting them at risk of starvation. The miraculous arrival of seagulls, which devoured the crickets, saved the harvest.

The following year’s harvest was better and coincided with the Gold Rush. “Brigham Young had promised the Latter-day Saints when they arrived, that things would come to them in this isolated place in the valley,” said Christensen. “And here in this painting, we see Minerva painting a fulfillment of that prophecy.”

Latter-day Saint women pioneers, who had fled religious persecution and endured multiple relocations across the country, carried only what could fit in small trunks. Christensen pointed out these trunks, remarking they were not much longer than a typical desk, and yet, they shared them among themselves.

The 49ers, who traveled West for gold, suffered from vitamin C deficiencies and traded cloth, furniture, and ceramics — items the pioneers couldn’t bring — for the Latter-day Saint women’s fresh fruits and vegetables. Christensen emphasized the women’s leadership in these negotiations. “She’s got the sunset happening over the Great Salt Lake, and she’s got the light shining on all the women,” said Christensen. “Instead of it being a negative interaction between the Gentiles and the Latter-day Saints, you’ve got women negotiating with one another.”

Teichert modeled the Latter-day Saint women pioneers after her own family members, giving the painting a deeper personal connection. As Christensen shared, Teichert’s ancestor Minerva Wade was an early pioneer in the area where the Miracle of the Gulls took place. Years later, Teichert painted “Utah Women Save the Day” with her familial ties in mind.

Teichert, although born in Ogden, traveled to Chicago and New York to study with renowned artists. She was taught by Robert Henri, an influential American artist who was “decidedly not a Latter-day Saint,” yet encouraged her to paint the story of her people. “She took that on for her entire career and focused it on everyday experiences of women, and miraculous and large-scale stories,” said Christensen.

Christensen noted Teichert’s exceptional training is evident in her multifigural historical works, which required composing individual figures cohesively. “She masterfully creates a personality for each of the figures. Each one is doing something,” said Christensen about “Utah Women Save the Day.” The painting continually reveals new details, he added. “I’ve lived with this painting now for about a month, every time I look at it, I’m pulled in by some other detail.”

According to Christensen, Teichert is one of the greatest muralists the United States has ever had. Her work’s primary goal was storytelling rather than creating photo-realistic paintings. She has become an illustrator of Latter-day Saints’ view of their history and ancestors. This legacy is evidenced by the long lines at the Manti Utah Temple, where people traveled from all over to see her murals during its open house.

Teichert’s contributions extend beyond canvases and murals. Her dedication to depicting pioneer women’s stories has left an indelible mark on how history views these everyday women and their significant roles in shaping the West.

Source: Deseret News