Description
The House of the World
Minerva Teichert, 1951
Holding the symbols of God’s love, Lehi waits for his family. His arm is an extension of the iron rod, which symbolizes the word of God, demonstrating that a prophet’s words are from the Lord. Sariah precedes her younger sons. Overcome, either with joy or fatigue, she clings to the rod nonetheless. Directly behind her is Nephi, who also grasps the rod while reaching out to her in concern. Sam holds onto Nephi and the rod.
Teichert reverses the expected assignment of light and dark. Lehi’s small group and much of the tree of life are shadowed while the building glows alluringly. Its golden statues convey the status of its throngs of people, and its glory seems to surpass that of the tree. As in real life, the blessings of faith and obedience are sometimes not as immediately apparent or attractive as the entrapments of Satan. (Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi 8:10, 12, 15, 18-19, 26-27)
The House of the World is part of our Pageants in Paint exhibition.
More About Teichert
The works of western American artist, Minerva Teichert, have received increasingly popular and critical acclaim in recent years. Today, the LDS community loves Teichert. She is a woman who successfully combined both faith and family and left an extraordinary legacy of artistic production.
Minerva Kohlhepp was born in North Ogden, but grew up homestead farming in the vicinity of American Falls, Idaho. Her father encouraged her childhood sketching. Soon, she developed an “indomitable will to succeed and excel in the field of art.” She taught school to raise enough money to go to Chicago for her art studies.
She attended the Art Institute of Chicago and Art Students League of New York in the early 1900s. There, mural paintings and theatrical pageants were dynamic components of American popular culture. Teichert embraced these art forms. Following the admonition of her art teacher – the American realist painter Robert Henri – she used the visual language these murals provided to tell the narrative of her religious heritage as well as that of the American West.
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