{"id":54624,"date":"2026-09-27T04:52:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=54624"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:56:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:56:59","slug":"from-obscured-to-omnipresent-jennifer-champoux-on-the-evolution-of-latter-day-saint-portraits-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/09\/from-obscured-to-omnipresent-jennifer-champoux-on-the-evolution-of-latter-day-saint-portraits-of-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"From Obscured to Omnipresent: Jennifer Champoux on the Evolution of Latter-day Saint Portraits of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">When we walk the halls of our meetinghouses today, we are greeted by intimate, soft-focus portraits of a smiling Jesus Christ, leading many of us to assume that Latter-day Saints have always embraced such direct depictions of the Savior. However, the visual history of the Church tells a much more complex story, revealing an artistic journey that ranges from a mid-century reluctance to paint the Savior&#8217;s face at all, to the explosive rise of modern, culturally diverse portrayals. A fascinating new interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, <i data-path-to-node=\"8\" data-index-in-node=\"572\">From the Desk<\/i>, features art historian <b data-path-to-node=\"8\" data-index-in-node=\"610\">Jennifer Champoux<\/b>, who unpacks how <a href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-have-latter-day-saints-portrayed-jesus\/\">Latter-day Saint depictions of Jesus<\/a> have dramatically evolved alongside our theology and global demographics. Exploring the urban legends surrounding Del Parson&#8217;s iconic &#8220;Christ in a Red Robe,&#8221; the theological shifts triggered by &#8220;The Living Christ&#8221; proclamation, and the vibrant new wave of ethnically diverse artwork, Champoux demonstrates that how we paint the Savior reveals exactly how we view our relationship with Him.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"QMh5WWkCJk\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-have-latter-day-saints-portrayed-jesus\/\">How Have Latter-day Saints Portrayed Jesus Christ?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;How Have Latter-day Saints Portrayed Jesus Christ?&#8221; &#8212; From the Desk\" src=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-have-latter-day-saints-portrayed-jesus\/embed\/#?secret=tn08sm4lpA#?secret=QMh5WWkCJk\" data-secret=\"QMh5WWkCJk\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"9\">The Distant Savior and the Stage Tableau<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">In the nineteenth century, Jesus was usually portrayed in basic narrative scenes or as the Good Shepherd. However, as the Church moved into the mid-twentieth century, there was a noticeable institutional reluctance to paint the Savior&#8217;s face clearly.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">Champoux points to the iconic Book of Mormon paintings by Arnold Friberg as the prime example of this era&#8217;s visual theology. In <i data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"128\">Jesus Christ Appears to the Nephites<\/i>, Friberg &#8220;placed the resurrected Savior far away and high up in the sky, so he is symbolically present, but he does not have any defined features,&#8221; with some similar choices in a second painting. Champoux explains the psychological effect of this compositional choice:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-path-to-node=\"12\">\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12,0\">&#8220;In both paintings, Friberg positions the viewer outside the scene, looking at the back of the main figures, who in turn look toward the center of the canvas at Jesus. The steep viewing angles add to the dramatic feeling, but both compositions have the effect of removing the viewer from an intimate communion wit<span class=\"citation-46 citation-47 citation-end-47\">h Christ and presenting instead a sort of stage tableau.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"13\"><span class=\"citation-44 citation-45 citation-end-45\">The Myths of the Red Robe<\/span><\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"14\"><span class=\"citation-42 citation-43 citation-end-43\">By the late twentieth century, this reluctance faded, giving way to a resurgence of realistic, intimate portraiture. No painting encapsulates this era better than Del Parson&#8217;s &#8220;Ch<\/span><span class=\"citation-42 citation-end-42\">rist in a Red Robe.&#8221; It became so universally recognizable that Latter-day Saint culture quickly began gene<\/span>rating faith-promoting folklore around its creation.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"15\">Champoux tackles one of the most enduring rumors: &#8220;One pervasive myth indicates that the prophet and First Presidency worked directly with Parson to portray Jesus&#8217;s appearance correctly. The implication was that the image is a true and accurate depiction of Jesus.&#8221; She also notes a popular legend regarding the painting&#8217;s lighting, recalling, &#8220;There was also a l<span class=\"citation-41 citation-end-41\">egend about the supposed symbolism of the light side of the face showing mercy and the side in shadow representing justice (I remember hearing this one in Sunday School from a newly returned missionary in 2000).&#8221;<\/span> While culturally powerful, these myths speak more to the members&#8217; desire for a ta<span class=\"citation-40 citation-end-40\">ngible connection to Christ than to the actual artistic process.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"source-inline-chip-container luminous-sources ng-star-inserted\"><\/div>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"16\"><span class=\"citation-39 citation-end-39\">&#8220;The Living Christ&#8221; and a Global Canvas<\/span><\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17\"><span class=\"citation-38 citation-end-38\">The release of &#8220;The Living Christ&#8221; document in 2000 sparked another massive shift. Champoux notes that following it<\/span>s publication, artwork pivoted heavily toward the resurrected Savior. &#8220;A theme emerged of non-narrative, portrait-like images of the living Christ,&#8221; Champoux says. &#8220;Often, these types of images showed him in nature in places like a field or on a hillside and used golden colors and a soft-focus effect.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"18\">Today, as the Church expands globally, the visual culture is expanding with it. A new generation of artists is pushing for historical accuracy and cultural representation. Champoux points to artists like Rose Datoc Dall and Esther Hi&#8217;ilani Candari, who use Middle Eastern models for their portrayals. Similarly, she highlights international artwork like Julie Yuen Yim\u2019s 2023 painting from Hong Kong, where &#8220;Jesus is a Chinese man, wearing a <i data-path-to-node=\"18\" data-index-in-node=\"442\">shanku<\/i> (belted coat over trousers), with his hair pulled back and wrapped with a scarf in a customary manner.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"19\">As Champoux notes, the official list of Church-approved artwork &#8220;appears to be a dynamic list that will continue to evolve to meet the needs of a global church.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"19\">For more on the early <a href=\"https:\/\/fromthedesk.org\/how-have-latter-day-saints-portrayed-jesus\/\">Latter-day Saint efforts to portray Jesus Christ<\/a> by pioneer artists like C. C. A. Christensen and how American Protestant Bible charts influenced early Sunday Schools, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog, <i data-path-to-node=\"19\" data-index-in-node=\"362\">From the Desk<\/i>, to read the full interview with Jennifer Champoux.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we walk the halls of our meetinghouses today, we are greeted by intimate, soft-focus portraits of a smiling Jesus Christ, leading many of us to assume that Latter-day Saints have always embraced such direct depictions of the Savior. However, the visual history of the Church tells a much more complex story, revealing an artistic journey that ranges from a mid-century reluctance to paint the Savior&#8217;s face at all, to the explosive rise of modern, culturally diverse portrayals. A fascinating new interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, features art historian Jennifer Champoux, who unpacks how Latter-day Saint depictions of Jesus have dramatically evolved alongside our theology and global demographics. Exploring the urban legends surrounding Del Parson&#8217;s iconic &#8220;Christ in a Red Robe,&#8221; the theological shifts triggered by &#8220;The Living Christ&#8221; proclamation, and the vibrant new wave of ethnically diverse artwork, Champoux demonstrates that how we paint the Savior reveals exactly how we view our relationship with Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2890],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-desk"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54625,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54624\/revisions\/54625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}