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SALT LAKE CITY — A unique art exhibition just opened at the LDS Church History Museum, featuring a critically-acclaimed artist whose works once hung in the nation's most prestigious museums.
Curators at the Salt Lake City museum have collected paintings that tell the story of Joseph Paul Vorst's time and ours. Much of his art captures a time of suffering and want in America: The Great Depression.
Glen Nelson researched Vorst's life for four years, searching for details and for some of his art believed lost.
“Over and over in our research, we would come across reference to paintings that everybody thought were lost. Then, miraculously, we would find that they existed in somebody’s basement.”
Nelson has written a book about the artist and man of faith.
"I think because (Joseph Vorst) grew up in poverty himself, he was attuned to the poor," Nelson said. "So, the works in this gallery are the works that made him famous. These works captured America's imagination because in this period — in the 1930s — America was very interested in the Heartland."
Now, the paintings are on exhibit at the Church History Museum because Vorst was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Born in Essen, Germany, in 1897, into a Catholic family of 10 children, Vorst later became a Latter-day Saint in 1924. The Salt Lake City exhibition has photographs of the missionaries who taught him about the church and as well as information about church meetings and gatherings he was a part of until 1930.
Vorst's art teachers — well-respected professors — began to suffer government persecution through censorship. He escaped that but came to America, settling in St. Louis during the Depression.
Nelson described Vorst’s "Drifters on the Mississippi" painting: "It was exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago and was a big prize winner, exhibited throughout the Midwest and New York, and it shows the aftermath of a tornado that made 1 million people homeless."
Laura Hurtado, the Church History Museum's Global Acquisitions curator, partnered with Nelson on this exhibition.
"Some of the themes you will see in Joseph Paul Vorst's work are ... floods, natural disasters, social justice issues, a real compassion for African Americans, a real love for the downtrodden, depictions of homeless in empathetic ways," Hurtado said.
The artwork, she believes, is relevant in today's political environment.
“Who would have thought that Neo-Nazis would be marching in Charlottesville? And here's a man who's taking a very strong anti-Fascist stance," Hurtado said of the artist.
Vorst was arguably one of the most important painters in LDS Church history because of the critical acclaim he received and because of the number of museums that exhibited his works. This exhibition includes programs from his shows at major museums throughout the country — some of which still display Vorsts' artwork, Hurtado said.
"His work was collected by important institutions as well," she explained. "So, his work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, the Museum of Modern Art, the St. Louis Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. We've lent from major institutions for this exhibition."
Vorst did visit Salt Lake City during his lifetime, and the exhibition includes photographs he took here. But he died of an aneurism in 1947, at age 50, in St. Louis. His son, Carl, who was only three years old then, still lives in the family home and maintains his father’s studio.
Carl Vorst believes this exhibition of his father's work carries a message.
"I hope that (visitors) not only know what my father fought for, but realize that a lot of the things he fought for when he came as an immigrant, because of things he saw, will translate into making peace in society today."
Carole Vorst, Carl Vorst’s wife, said the couple are very touched by the exhibition and how they have been received in Utah.
“It was overwhelming," she said. "It was such a joy to see the story told in such a wonderful way about my father-in-law, (who) I never had the joy to meet, and told by people who understood his paintings.”
Nelson felt he came to know the man, the artist, as he was led to find some of his art.
I hope that (visitors) not only know what my father fought for, but realize that a lot of the things he fought for when he came as an immigrant, because of things he saw, will translate into making peace in society today.
–Carl Vorst
“To see some of these works that were thought to be lost — that even the family had never seen before — to see them in the flesh, was just a big rush. It’s every art historian's dream to find lost treasures and bring them back to life," Nelson said.
"Is this Mormon art?” Hurtado asked. “Is this what Mormon art looks like? It's not often explicitly religious, but his work is consistently compassionate and has a consistent message of hope in times of deep despair. And is that religious subject matter? I think so.”
The curators and Vorst family believe this is an opportunity of rediscovery for Latter-day Saints and the greater community: the art of Joseph Paul Vorst resonates still.
The Joseph Paul Vorst exhibition will continue at the Church History Museum through April 15, 2018.
