Early Days near Salt Lake Valley or Pioneer Home (1880)
ARCHAIC-PRIMITIVE
OIL ON BOARD
9-3/4" x 13-1/4"
Instructions:
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Gift from Edwin Evans, Salt Lake City
Danquart Anthon Weggeland was born in Christiana, Norway in 1827. As a child he was interested in drawing, and at 16 he was able to begin art lessons with a local portrait painter. Four years later he left home for a year's apprenticeship with a painter and decorator in Copenhagen and then spent the next year studying at the Danish Royal Academy of Art.
In 1855, Weggeland became a member of the LDS Church and later emigrated to America after serving a mission in England from 1857 to 1861. In 1862, he had earned enough money to travel to Salt Lake City where he made a modest living painting scenery for the Salt Lake Theatre and creating other works of art from sketches depicting the trek west and from drawings showing Utah landscapes.
Weggeland also produced murals for the St. George, Logan, Manti, and Salt Lake Temples. Known as "The Father of Utah Art," he was an art teacher and a founder of the Deseret Academy. He was an important influence on the second generation of Utah artists. Weggeland exhibited nationally and won gold and silver medals at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. He also helped to establish an important tradition of European-trained native Utah artists.
