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| ARCHAIC-PRIMITIVE |
| OIL ON CANVAS |
| 16" x 12" |
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Instructions:
Move the mouse around the left image to see different parts of the image.
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| Gift from Neil and Jane Schaerrer, Salt Lake City |
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During the Summer of 1857 the artist and his bride, Elsie Scheel, honeymooned on the plains as they pulled a handcart to Zion from Iowa City. Before they left for the trek, Christensen optimistically penned in Danish the "Handcart Song". C.C.A., as he was called, painted this theme at least five times. The last handcart company came to Utah in 1860, thirty years before Christensen painted this oil, the earliest known "handcart" painting. The significance of these passing "mighty events" were largely ignored by Utah artists for a generation after their occurrence. Our painters did not see their pictorial value, though many such events were already being proclaimed in the Territory through music and literature.
This oil shows the handcart pioneers, probably climbing Little Mountain at the top of Emigration Canyon. When they approached the summit they could see their destination, Salt Lake City, for the first time. Jubilation begins to sweep the company as they push and pull their way up the steep mountain crest. |
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