The popular adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words" is illustrated in two paintings featured on this week's Church News cover.
Early Latter-day Saint artists C.C.A. Christensen (1831-1912) and George Martin Ottinger (1833-1917) used their artistic talents to tell two segments of the Mormon pioneer era. The cover photos were taken from original paintings on display in the central gallery of the Museum of Church History and Art, located just west across the street from Temple Square in Salt Lake City.In his work titled "Winter Quarters," Christensen depicted the efforts of Mormon pioneers to overcome the extreme hardships of winter on the Nebraska prairie. In a printed description prepared by the museum staff is the following information about the painting:
"Rather than focusing on the tragedies of disease and death experienced by the residents of Winter Quarters, Christensen emphasizes the group activities and enjoyment of life in the temporary community, as the pioneers prepared to head west.
"Christensen focuses on people carefully placed in a series of small stories: men are hauling and chopping firewood, women are visiting and washing clothes, a blacksmith is at work at his forge, and children are sledding down a hill. His attention to detail is obvious in the darker color of smoke from the blacksmith's forge which burned coke or coal rather than wood."
The painting is owned by Jeanette Taggart Holmes of Tahoe City, Calif., who gave permission for it to be reproduced on this week's Church News cover.
The Ottinger painting portrays members of the Mormon Battalion at Carrizo Creek in California.
Included in the museum's statement: "The Mormon Battalion was made up of 509 Latter-day Saint volunteers who were recruited by the U.S. government in 1846 for service in the Mexican War. . . .
"By the time the soldiers reached the Imperial Desert, they were a ragtag group, exhausted and suffering from the extreme conditions of desert travel. The battalions chronicler Daniel Tyler described their state: `At this time the men were nearly barefooted; some used, instead of shoes, rawhides wrapped around their feet, while others improvised a novel style of boots by stripping the skin from the legs of an ox. . . . Others wrapped cast off clothing around their feet, to shield them from the burning sand during the day and the cold at night.'
"During a forced march of 95 miles [as part of the last segment of the trekT, the battalion traveled from the Colorado River to Carrizo Creek, arriving on January 16, 1847. Their commander Phillip St. George Cooke recalled: `Near eleven a.m. I reached, with the foremost wagon, the first water of the Criza; a clear running stream gladdened the eyes, after the anxious dependence on muddy wells for five or six days. I found the march (today) to be nineteen miles; thus without water for near three days, (for the working animals) and camping two nights in succession, without water, the battalion made in forty-eight hours, four marches, of eighteen, eight, eleven, and nineteen miles, suffering from frost, and from summer heat.'
"Wracked by hunger, thirst, and fatigue, the soldiers staggered as they marched. Some were unable to speak, while others lay exhausted by the way-side.' It took nearly two days for all the soldiers to reach the camp site and the precious creek, which was not much more thanan orio [arroyoT of warmish water coming out of the ground a short distance above and loosing itself in the sand not one mile below.'
"However, the water quenched the thirst of both men and animals. By the evening of the 18th Colonel Cooke recorded: `The men, who this morning were prostrate, worn out, hungry, heartless, have recovered their spirits tonight, and are singing and playing the fiddle.'
"It is this joyful spirit at reaching water which Ottinger captures so skillfully in this painting of the epic march. The bright, warm colors, the tattered, but upright flag, and the hats waving all communicate the relief and joy which the soldiers must have felt as they reached the banks of the creek.
"Yet, the arduous nature of the trek is not lost in the happiness of the moment. Pant legs are shredded and torn, one man carries another on his back, and one soldier slides down the embankment exposing his feet covered with strips of rawhide or cloth. Two of the men at the creek lie face down in the water, drinking it in. Others gratefully hold cups and pass them on to their comrades.
"Although Ottinger was not a soldier in the battalion, he has tried to portray one of the more moving scenes of the trek with both sensitivity and accuracy. Even the uniforms and clothing are appropriate. While most of the soldiers carry their rifles, sabres and packs issued by the government, only the officers are in uniform. The soldiers had cashed in their uniform allotments to help support their families at Winter Quarters, and they made the trek in their own clothing."
