Latter-day Saint Life

Who Is the Seventh-Day Adventist Whose Paintings Are All Over Mormon Churches?

34818.jpg

Did you know some of the Church's most-used pictures of Christ were painted by this talented Seventh-day Adventist?

The Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened an exhibit last September dedicated to Harry Anderson, a famous painter of biblical subjects whose works have become especially popular in Mormon circles.

More than 25 of Anderson's paint studies — or early drafts made in preparation for creating a slew of paintings from the 1960s to the 1970s — are tucked inside the newly-renovated museum, where tourists, passersby and locals can all gaze upon some of the church's most recognizable artwork.

But Anderson wasn’t Mormon.

So who was he? More than just a popular painter with a massive Mormon following, the Chicago-born, would-be mathematician was a Seventh-day Adventist who serendipitously became an artist who sought the help of God and heaven's healing for health problems that plagued his adult life and career.

Lead image from the Deseret News
Tags
Art
Share
Stay in the loop!
Enter your email to receive updates on our LDS Living content