The sense of excitement and relief the handcart pioneers must have felt approaching the Salt Lake Valley shows in the beautiful painting. A woman turning back to raise a handkerchief to those traveling Latter-day Saint handcart pioneers behind. This gesture holds deep meaning to Latter-day Saints everywhere. The colors are bold and the expression is remarkable.
Minerva Teichert created dozens of murals in public buildings all around Utah; none of them were funded through the WPA. While most of her murals were western themed, there were many with “crossover” meanings. Those who knew Mormon history would recognize the story blended within a scene of wagons and oxen. Those who didn’t know the local history saw her murals as beautiful scenes of the American west. In 1935 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commissioned Minerva Teichert to paint an over-sized vertical mural specifically for the Presidential suite in the Hotel Utah. The mural was intentionally created so that it could be removed or moved. At almost 12 feet tall, it was an impressive part of the suite.
Eventually the mural was converted to a framed piece of art and put on display in Salt Lake’s Hotel Temple Square. Originally Titled Zion Ho! - The Handcart Pioneers, it’s now known as simply Handcart Pioneers. Much of her mural work was done during the Great Depression. Minerva said her main artistic outlet was her murals. Her grandson said at her funeral that Minerva would paint in one room and cook dinner in the kitchen. She would add strokes to paintings between chores. “She was a multitasker—big time,” says her grandson. “She’d be cooking at the stove and walking around [the corner] and putting some brush strokes on the painting.”
Reference: minervateichertgallery.com
Reproduced from the artist's original artwork of Oil on Canvas. Painted 1935.