Teens/adults - Lesson 3: Panoramas of history

Are you ready to be an art historian? Let’s go!

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The cover story of Art in America’s May/June 1970 issue was “A Panorama of Mormon Life.” The magazine, one of the most widely-read and admired magazines on fine art in the country at the time, provided this caption for the cover: “Detail of one of the scenes of a nineteenth-century panorama of pioneer Mormon life painted by Carl Christian Anton Christensen. In the scene (which is reproduced in full on page 59) the persecuted Latter-Day Saints are fleeing from the state of Missouri.” On the table of contents, the following background was given: “Of the myriad religious sects that have flourished on our soil, only two—the Shakers and the Mormons—have made a serious contribution to American art. Mormon architecture is well known; Mormon painting has been almost totally overlooked. The work of C. C. A. Christensen—whose twenty-two-scene panorama is reproduced in color in this issue—is especially worthy of recognition for both its historical and artistic importance.”[1]

The feature article, in addition to the reproductions of the paintings themselves, included three articles: “A Panorama of Mormon Life” by Carl Carmer; “Mormon Art and Architecture” by Mahonri Sharp Young; and “Mormon Society—A Photo Story” with a note by Kimball Young. Meanwhile, the Whitney Museum of American Art exhibited: Christensen: A Panorama of Mormon Life from August 13 through September 7, 1970, curated by John I. H. Baur, in its second floor gallery. [2]

What was that about? How did a leading museum and art magazine in America come to display paintings about 19th century Latter-day Saints in 1970? It’s time for you to conduct some research to find out.

We will want to discover what we can about the painter and the paintings, but that’s not enough. In addition, let’s consider how and why they were made, how they were received at the time by the public, what happened to the paintings over time, how they were lost and found and lost again and then rediscovered in the 20th century, and how people respond to them now.

That’s a good start, but let’s go even farther than that. Consider yourself as an art historian with a special emphasis. Thinking back to our earlier lesson, can you use the art historical tools developed over centuries to look at these panoramas? Can you role-play as Pliny, Vasari, Winckelmann, Goethe, Kant, Schnaase, Panofsky, Freud, Jung, Nochlin, Pollock, Krauss? What would they have made of Christensen’s works?

Let’s begin. We’ll provide a little information to get you started. Read, do some research, and then ask and answer as many questions as you can until you feel like an expert.

Read biographical information about C. C. A. Christensen

Look at the art works closely and learn about them

Read Christensen’s own writing about art

Discover what panoramas were

Listen to the story of the rediscovery of the Christensen panoramas

Read Contemporary reactions to the panoramas

That’s a lot of information, and it’s likely that as you researched, you found additional sources beyond those listed here. If you read and listened and looked, you probably have your own ideas about the history of these works, maybe even conflicting ideas. You will have discovered that there is a broad reaction to them that has changed over time.

Hopefully, you enjoyed the journey of discovery. You can use these same processes to explore the history of any art work or object. You are an art historian, now.

[1] Art in America, May-June 1970, vo. 58, no 3

[2] Whitney Museum of American Art Exhibitions 1931-2000, WMMA Exhibition Archives, accessed September 20, 2019.