Art Collection
About the Collection
The Church History Museum’s art collection contains works that reflect the faith and experience of Latter-day Saints throughout history and around the globe. Not only does artwork tell a story about the era and the people who created it, including what stories they valued and styles they preferred, but it can also be used to instruct, to decorate, and to pay devotion to God. The museum actively collects artwork in the following categories:
We collect figurative, narrative, or illustrative artwork with religious or Latter-day Saint subject matter and artwork by well-known artists with links to Latter-day Saint history. These artists and artwork are typically seen as part of the Latter-day Saint art historical canon and are often familiar to Latter-day Saint audiences.
We collect artwork that captures the Latter-day Saint experience from a broad range of artists who use a variety of materials and who work within contemporary artistic practices. Expanding our collection to include nonnarrative, nonfigurative works strategically fills gaps in our collection.
We collect artwork about or produced by Church members outside the United States. In doing so, we seek to expand the visual and cultural narrative of the Church by representing the full spectrum of the cultural and artistic practices of its people.
International Art Competitions
Every three years, Latter-day Saint artists from around the world are encouraged to participate in a theme-based competition hosted by the Church History Museum. The purpose of this competition is, first, to showcase the breadth and diversity of Latter-day Saint artists and, second, to help develop the Church History Museum art collection through purchase awards. In fact, many well-beloved pieces of Latter-day Saint artwork have come from these competitions.
For each competition, artworks selected by a jury are exhibited at the museum and are eligible to receive one of several awards, including purchase awards. Through these awards, the museum expands its collection by purchasing a select number of artworks from those exhibited.
