Mormon art

The painting depicts LDS founder Joseph Smith preaching to the Native Americans, and was commissioned by the church for the Salt Lake Temple.

The purpose of Mormon art creation and circulation is to provide inspiration and encouragement to LDS members, and to instruct and remind them of the teaching and values of the church.

Considered a young religion, Mormonism is not quite 200 years old and has primarily expanded in the 20th century, when artistic and cultural freedom concurrently increased.

Richard G. Oman, expert on LDS art and curator of acquisitions for the LDS Church History Museum prior to 2010, states in an excerpt on visual artists in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism that the church purposefully holds no limitations on LDS artistic style to promote stylistic diversity: "The absence of an official liturgical art has kept the Church from directing its artists into specified stylistic traditions.

Oman says that the church consequently embraces and promotes the various artistic attributes to "broaden [perspectives] so the Saints all over the world would be celebrated.

Oman also wrote of aesthetic uniformity: "Some of the aesthetic constants of LDS artists are the narrative tradition in painting, a reverence for nature, absence of nihilism, support of traditional societal values, respect for the human body, a strong sense of aesthetic structure, and rigorous craftsmanship"[1] Another contributor to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism is Martha Moffitt Peacock, Professor in Art History and Associate Director for the Center for the Study of Europe at Brigham Young University.