John Hafen

John Hafen (March 22, 1856 – June 3, 1910) was a Swiss-born American artist, primarily of landscapes and portraits.

As a child, Hafen immigrated to the United States from Switzerland and settled in Utah. There, he demonstrated artistic abilities from an early age. In 1890, he was one of a group of "art missionaries" who studied at the Académie Julian in Paris under the sponsorship of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in preparation for painting murals at the nearly completed Salt Lake Temple. After returning home, Hafen painted landscapes of rural Utah and portraits of LDS General Authorities. He suffered intense financial difficulty throughout his life and did not receive much recognition as an artist until a few years before his death. He has been named "Utah's greatest artist" by Alice Merrill Horne and "is now considered the most appealing of the early Utah stylists." in Scherzingen, Switzerland. His parents, Johann Hafen and Anna Elizabeth Ruesi, Hafen began making art as a young boy, producing sketches as early as age four. When Hafen was six years old, his family immigrated to the U.S. They then traveled westward in wagons.

John Hafen (left) and Walter Stringham c. 1888. Taken by George Edward Anderson During these years, Hafen would "draw with bits of charcoal from the fire on anything he could find." He was also religious from a young age; after hearing a speech from Brigham Young, nine-year-old Hafen began to follow the Word of Wisdom. His photographs were also commended.

In 1881, Hafen joined other local artists in founding the Utah Art Association, which organized exhibitions and provided instruction for aspiring artists. The association served as Hafen's outlet for drawing and painting for the rest of the decade. he completed his work, Last Public Address of Lieut. Gen. Joseph Smith, a painting of an event that occurred 44 years earlier in Nauvoo, Illinois. It was shown on a poster advertising a reunion of the veterans. Though not entirely historically accurate, Last Public Address is still used today as a popular depiction of the event. His work in the photography industry continued as well; he opened a gallery in American Fork with his wife, Thora Twede. they agreed to provide a total of $2,160 to fund the trip, and in return, the artists would use what they learned abroad to paint the murals in the Salt Lake Temple when they returned to Utah. alongside John Fairbanks, Lorus Pratt, and Edwin Evans, Hafen was called as a full-time missionary and assigned to Paris, France. Once arrangements were made, the "French Art Missionaries" traveled east by train, stopping in New York City to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then boarded the steamship Nevada to cross the Atlantic. During the voyage, they taught some passengers about their faith and made a goal to produce one sketch each day. Hafen recorded that those who lagged on this goal would "be fined 10 cents. The only fine imposed on our trip so far was Loris; one day he was so busy teaching the gospel to fellow passengers that he forgot to make a sketch." Hafen and Fairbanks began study at the Académie Julian, where their primary instructor was Albert Rigolot. Hafen's teachers also included Jules Lefebvre and Jean-Paul Laurens. Hafen began work on the walls of the garden room

Hafen continued to paint following his return home, and opened up a studio of his own in Springville, where he exhibited his depictions of the rural Utah landscape from the mid-1890s until 1907. In 1899, he was awarded third prize in the Utah Art Institute competition for his work entitled North Fork Provo Canyon.

After his experience in Paris, Hafen missed being so far from the center of the art world. Both this longing to be working among other artists including Girl Among the Hollyhocks, which has been commended as "a masterpiece of American Impressionism". He again won the Utah Art Institute prize that year as well. He used family members and local LDS 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. Church authorities responded that, while they enjoyed the paintings, they were concerned about salespeople using an endorsement from the church to pressure members into purchasing the booklet. It was subsequently published and sold by Hafen's friends and family.

Alongside Adolph Shultz, Hafen became involved in the growth of the Brown County Art Colony. He left to visit his family in Utah for a time, then returned to Indiana with his son Virgil, an aspiring artist; together they opened up a studio in Indianapolis. Hafen began to sell more of his paintings and receive more commissions, including the task to paint Governor Thomas R. Marshall's portrait.

Personal life

Hafen met his wife, Thora Twede, at George Edward Anderson's photography studio. The couple married on June 13, 1879, in the Salt Lake City Endowment House. Their son, J. Leo Hafen, was born on May 23 of the following year. By 1890, Hafen and Twede had a total of five children. William Conant Jr. has affirmed: "His driving force was faith in God and the surety that his calling in life was to paint." Hafen painted a mural of hollyhocks to cover a bare wall in the house.

Hafen's artistic philosophy revolved around using art to portray truth, particularly relating to religion; and this uncompromising goal made it challenging for Hafen to appeal to the mass market. that eventually blossomed into the Springville Museum of Art. His paintings have been on display in Paris, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis at exhibitions such as that of the Society of American Artists; the John Herron Art Institute has also featured his works.