Handcart Pioneers at the Waterfall

“Teichert, who loved to watch movies in Technicolor at the theater in Montpelier, Idaho, thirty miles from Cokeville, created a cinematic air in her 1930s western mural, Handcart Pioneers at the Waterfall. Recalling romantic scenes in 1930s movie posters, the painting pictures a young pioneer couple-a demure young woman in blonde curls receiving a tin of water from a handsome dark-haired young man. The grime and grit of the pioneer saga are missing from this idyllic scene. The peaceful, even romantic picture surely sanctions the advancement of the refined and civilized pioneers into the unsettled West. Like historical pageants, mural decorations, and western-themed movies, Teichert''s painting sustained a vision of America as a nation of progress.” Reproduced from the artist''s original artwork of Oil on Canvas 77” x 59”. Painted 1940. Reference: Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint by Marian Wardle