Carl Christian Anton Christiansen An Overview - 1220 Words

Gi Le Professor Doug Cunningham IHUM 202 7 October 2015 Word Counts: 1208 Enduring to the End Carl Christian Anton Christiansen (C.C.A Christiansen) is considered one of the finest nineteenth-century painters of Mormonism. He captured important moments of early Mormo ¬n history on 23 large oil-on-canvas paintings, stitched them together into a lengthy scroll, and called it Mormon Panorama. Before arrived at BYU Museum of Arts, it was stored in long wooden boxes in the wagon and transferred to different galleries. When viewing up close to the painting, I saw the weathered marks of the past – of the scroll being rolled up in the harsh weather. Those marks surprisingly enhance the content of the paintings – the sufferings of Joseph Smith and the pioneers. Amazingly, that is the beauty in the imperfections. â€Å"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days (DC 24:8). We are the children of God. Given the life on earth, we live for a reason – we live for God. We will face a lot of challenges and sufferings, but we need to remember who we are and endure to the end. C.C.A Christiansen portrayed this theme in three paintings of the Mormon Panorama series: Tarring and Feathering of the Prophet, Exterior of Carthage Jail, and Crossing the Mississippi on the Ice. By using the blue color and connecting the early saints with God’s covenant people in the Bible, C.C.A Christiansen portrayed the relentless