The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert By Doris R. Dant, John W. Welch BYU Studies, Bookcraft, 1997. Hardcover: 168 pages. ISBN: 1-57008-378-9 Suggested retail price: $39.95 (US)
Reviewed by: Edgar C. Snow

Of Curious Workmanship: Meditations and Musings on things Mormon

"Minerva Mania" has struck Mormonism, and not a minute too soon. In the last 10 years, and especially in the last 12 months, we have amply sampled the life and work of Mormon artist Minerva Teichert from (i) exhibitions at the Museum of Church History and the BYU Art Museum, (ii) a BYU video, (iii) a one-woman theatrical performance, (iv) a biography, (v) a collection of her letters, and (vi) the subject of this book review, The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert.

It is fitting that I should write this review since (a) I blabbed a couple of months ago on AML-List that I wondered why someone hadn't already published a version of the Book of Mormon illustrated by Minerva's paintings, and, (b) upon hearing from Marny Parkin on AML-List that the print had yet to dry on a forthcoming BYU Studies/Bookcraft volume reproducing those paintings, I suggested it wasn't possible that the volume could do her paintings justice. I must now correct myself and say that (y) a standard-sized Book of Mormon illustrated by Minerva's works would not do the mural-sized paintings justice, and (z) the BYU Studies/Bookcraft volume superbly demonstrates that her paintings, unlike Arnold Friberg's, are not merely illustrations, but enduring works of art, deserving not only the virtually unanimous critical and popular acclaim she has recently received, but also deserving this luscious volume from BYU Studies and Bookcraft. (BTW, I now need a good recipe for eating crow. I understand that like revenge, it's best served cold.)

By now I suspect nearly everyone knows the story of Minerva's Book of Mormon paintings, how she studied art in Chicago and New York under noted masters, how during the 1940s and 1950s she pursued her dream to tell the Book of Mormon story in over 40 murals painted while tacked to the wall of her small living room. She even had to use inverted binoculars to view the murals from a distance for a proper perspective. Unlike other murals she rendered, she pursued this dream without being commissioned. The only client she served was the Spirit, unless you count her arrangement with BYU to pay for tuition for her children and other students with these paintings. As a result, BYU now owns most of these works, a few others being held by the Church and in private collections.

A couple of years ago, Carol Lynn Pearson asked "Could Feminism Have Saved the Nephites?" (Sunstone, March 1996, p 32). After having read The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert, I would now respond to Sister Pearson's question, "I don't know, but I think Minerva Teichert could have." Minerva's visual midrash on the Book of Mormon transforms a text often preoccupied with armed conflict into the kinder, gentler story told between the lines of the Book of Mormon, and from a woman's point of view in peaceful, yet vibrant colors, as if Edgar Degas had painted a ballet based on the Book of Mormon story.

Of course, "Ahhhnold" Friberg's depictions of Book of Mormon events which have bulked up the pages of the Book of Mormon for a couple of generations will inevitably be compared to Teichert's work. After staring at The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert and reading the graceful commentary by Welch and Dant (and an essay by Marian Eastwood Wardle, a granddaughter of Teichert), I believe Minerva viewed the Book of Mormon as a screenplay for a "chick flick" about relationships among humans and God that just happened to have some wars in it, whereas Friberg's action/adventure screenplay, full of super heroes whose biceps were often larger than their heads (even bedraggled Abinadi, according to Friberg's painting, was on steroids), occasionally needed some females as romantic foils and extras so that the constant barrage of action special effects wouldn't become tiresome. Another way to look at these two disparate artistic styles is as if Teichert and Friberg were writers of Book of Mormon gospels, Friberg being Matthew or Mark, focusing on the mighty acts and miracles of the heroic Nephites, and Teichert being Luke or John, focusing on women, children and themes of the heart. Few would doubt that we've been influenced in our reading of the Book of Mormon text in the last 30 years by the sheer ubiquity of the Friberg illustrations. If the only available Book of Mormon text for the next 30 years were illustrated by Teichert (in an over-sized, coffee-table edition, of course), or if Minerva Mania continues unabated, wouldn't her paintings change the way we view the Book of Mormon text as well? Wouldn't we be drawn toward the subtleties of the text, perhaps to its literary beauty, the stories of its handful of women and children, rather than to the familiar war stories, Captain Moroni, the 2,000 stripling warriors, or a "soloflexed" Nephi? Since this is supposed to be a review of the book, allow me to focus on a few examples of Minerva's different vision of the world of the Nephites and Lamanites.

"Love Story" (pp. 62-63) is a wonderful transformation of the terse account of the marriage of Ishmael's daughters to Lehi's sons into a boisterous dance number right out of an ancient near eastern "West Side Story," replete with tambourines and cymbals, billowing costumes, and flirtatious smiles. As in many of her other paintings, the women steal this scene.

"Defense of Nephite City" (pp. 122-23) displays the Nephite repulsion of a Lamanite attempt to take a city. Teichert's combat murals obscure the brutality of, say, Friberg's painting of the last Nephite battle with corpses strewn all around Moroni. In this painting, Teichert, a rancher familiar with horses, creates sympathy not for the fallen Nephites or Lamanites who are nearly invisible, but for the Lamanite horses injured in the confrontation, the horses being the emphasized casualties of the campaign.

"The City of Gid" (pp. 132-33) demonstrates that, notwithstanding Fawn Brodie's cool assessment (No Man Knows My History, p. 62), the Book of Mormon contains potential untapped humor. The story of Laman (Alma 55:1-16) teasing the Lamanites with some strong wine till they were feeling no pain, qualifies as comic relief in an otherwise no-nonsense account of warfare (unless you also count Alma 55:30-32 as additional humor -- see Robert J. Matthews, Who's Who in the Book of Mormon, p. 72). Teichert's take on this story shows some suspicious, but thirsty Lamanites awaiting an earnest Laman and his chuckling cohorts, accompanied by the least earnest of all beasts of burden -- donkeys -- bearing jars of wine, one of the donkeys flicking its ear. I would have been less subtle and shown the donkey hee-hawing, or wisecracking to its neighbor like Mister Ed. It's a good thing my parents dissuaded me from being an artist.

"Gadianton's Band" (pp. 136-37), a story about murder and plunder, becomes an exotic and colorful carousel of horses ascending a mountain mounted by Gadianton and his men. The shadow work seems to suggest poles on which the horses glide up and down around the mountain. Again, the horses are the focal point of the picture.

"Look to Your Children" (pp. 146-47) is the climax of the book (as well as the Book of Mormon), depicting angelic ministrations to children during the Savior's visit at the temple. The predominant color in this mural is red, Minerva's favorite color, which she associated with heaven (p. 16). While contemporary readers likely interpret 3 Nephi's discussion of angelic ministration with priesthood blessings (at least I always have), Minerva transforms this scene into a literal feast, with angels serving the children the way Welch and Dant suggest Minerva had performed her own "grandmotherly acts" (p. 146) of serving food and caring for grandchildren. The eye is drawn to the central angelic figure which ministers to a young girl by washing her face.

It should be noted that notwithstanding Teichert's study of Biblical and Mesoamerican cultures, her paintings might appear less than historically accurate based upon the extensive and influential research and proposed models of Nephite culture promulgated in the last 15 years by John Sorenson, which among other things, discounts the use of horses by Lamanites and Nephites for transportation (see his An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon), and by FARMS researchers, which, among other things, discount the style of armor and weaponry painted by Minerva in favor of more exotic Mesoamerican weaponry and armor (see their Warfare in the Book of Mormon). I hope, however, that these perceived minor flaws in her work will not result in the neglect of her paintings, since the murals are more important for the way they convey the emotional and communal aspects of the Nephite story. To do so would be as foolish as to discount the works of Mediaeval masters who painted the biblical patriarchs in Mediaeval dress.

Welch and Dant have done an excellent job of complimenting Teichert's work with a balanced text which contains (i) an introduction to Teichert, her artistic themes, her influences, (ii) essential statements from Teichert's own pen regarding her work and testimony, and (iii) a running commentary on her paintings with insightful interpretations that feel natural, not strained, and which rarely distract from the beauty of Teichert's paintings. I feel guilty pointing out a couple of mild distractions, but I would neglect my duty as a reviewer if I didn't whine about something. In a couple of places, Welch apparently forgot to squelch what must have been a constant temptation to add Book of Mormon commentary to their commentary on Minerva's paintings. In discussing "Love Story," for instance, the text abruptly says, "The ram's horn on the right of the mural may indicate this is also a religiously significant occasion." And in the discussion of "Death of Amalikiah" (pp. 126-27), the text says: "Interestingly, Amalikiah was killed on the eve of the first day of the year, when symbolic reenthronements in some cultures take place." I don't disagree with these statements, I'd just rather read them in a FARMS publication, rather than be sidetracked by them in a commentary on Minerva's art.

I now conclude my review with the following directives. Buy the book; the royalties go toward the Minerva Teichert scholarship fund at BYU. Buy one for your ward's library. Give them as gifts. Convince BYU Studies and Bookcraft to sell framed posters of the paintings. Use Minerva's pictures in Primary, Sunday School, Priesthood, Relief Society, Seminary and Family Home Evenings. Encourage others to use the paintings as book covers (this is already happening). Learn how to paint like Minerva, establish a Mormon art movement based upon the renewal of her artistic vision, and continue her work.

May Minerva save us from our near-sighted visualization of the story of the Nephites.

Ed Snow
<Edgar_C._Snow@jonesday.com>

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Ed Snow is a practicing (i) lawyer, (ii) father, (iii) husband, (iv) writer
and (v) gospel doctrine teacher living in Atlanta, Georgia, and hopes
practice will someday make perfect.