John Hafen was an American landscape artist. In 1890, he was one of a group of painters who studied in Paris under the sponsorship of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in preparation for painting murals at the nearly completed Salt Lake Temple.
Biography
Hafen's family converted to the LDS Church and emigrated to the United States when he was six, making the journey from Omaha to Utah by ox team. Originally they settled in Payson, but moved to Salt Lake City in 1868, so he could attend school. He was enrolled at the 20th Ward Academy, where one of his teachers was Karl G. Maeser. Drawing was one of the subjects taught there, and Hafen displayed an early talent for art. Over the next ten years, he was tutored by George M. Ottinger and Dan Weggeland; instructors at the University of Deseret. He also learned photography and worked as an assistant to George Edward Anderson. In 1881, Hafen and a group of young artists founded the Utah Art Association, organizing exhibitions and providing art instruction. In 1890, Hafen convinced the LDS Church leadership to sponsor art studies in France. Together with John Fairbanks, Lorus Pratt and Edwin Evans, Hafen was awarded a two-year scholarship to study at the Académie Julian in Paris, where their primary instructor was Albert Rigolot, and they became known as the "French Art Missionaries". While there, his first experiences with plein air painting inspired him to devote himself to landscapes. Due to family financial difficulties, he had to return after only one year and was the first of his group to begin work at the Temple, playing a major role in the initial mural planning. Hafen asked for financial assistance from the LDS Church several times beginning in 1901. In return, he painted several works including Girl among the Hollyhocks and a series of General Authority portraits. In 1908, Hafen made a series of eight paintings to accompany Eliza R. Snow's "O, My Father," notable in part for the sixth, which is the earliest known visual work by a Latter-day Saint artist to depict the Heavenly Mother. He painted the works in Nashville, using family members and local Church leaders as models. Hafen was offended by the LDS Church's reluctance to endorse the booklet of poems and use them as material for missionary distribution, thinking that they disliked his paintings. While general authorities liked the paintings, they were concerned with salespeople pressuring people to buy it if it were published by the church. The booklet was subsequently published and sold by Hafen's friends and family.
Financial difficulties
In 1893, after the temple was consecrated, Hafen rejoined the Utah Art Association and served as vice-president. He wasn't able to support his wife and ten children by painting, however; by invitation from Benjamin Cluff, he taught art at the Brigham Young Academy, while continuing to receive $100 per month to paint for the Church. Many of his works are now part of the collection at the Museum of Church History and Art. Although too poor to pay his rent, by trading a painting for the right to use some land and bartering with locals for help with the construction, Hafen was able to acquire a home in Springville; a Swiss-style chalet, designed by his friend Alberto Treganza. It is now in the National Register of Historic Places as the "John Hafen House". He donated many paintings to Springville High School and encouraged other artists to do the same. The collection grew to the point that it required a separate building and formed the nucleus for the Springville Museum of Art. In 1908, still struggling financially, Hafen moved to Indiana to work with the Hoosier Group and achieved wider recognition, including a commission to paint Governor Thomas R. Marshall's portrait. His success was short-lived, however, as he died from pneumonia in 1910. Hafen's artistic philosophy revolved around using art to portray truth, particularly religious truth and this uncompromising goal made it challenging for Hafen to appeal to the mass market. Despite Hafen's inability to achieve mainstream success, art critic Alice Merrill Horne called him the premier painter of his day.′
