John Hafen: Utah’s Poet Painter

A comprehensive biography showcasing the work of Utah artist John Hafen, including over 200 images of the artist’s work, along with 50+ photos and historical clippings.

In his short life as an artist, John Hafen (1856–1910) earned the title of Utah’s “poet painter.” He was a Latter-day Saint artist in a philosophical and evangelical sense, although he was not a painter of Christian genre, themes, or content. Rather, he searched for the universal and eternal beauty underlying the mountains and rural nature. While he vigorously eschewed commercialism in art, because of dire poverty and a large family (10 children) he was continually “forced” to paint quick pictures for the trade just to get by from day to day. But taken all together, he was still the clearest voice of the aesthetic conscience of Utah fine art in his day. His capo d’opera was the equal of the best Utah artists and fared well nationally. His contributions to Utah art were profound and long-lasting. He was the instigator of the Paris art mission and the lead painter of the murals in the Salt Lake Temple. He began the art department at Brigham Young Academy (now BYU), was president of the Utah Art Institute, and cofounded the Springville Museum of Art.

Vern Grosvenor Swanson, PhD, studied at BYU and the University of Utah, and received his doctorate at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. He was the museum aide supervisor at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and director of the Springville Museum of Art for thirty-two years until his retirement in 2012. His authored publications include J.W. Godward: The Eclipse of Classicism, as well as two major books on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, five books on Russian and Soviet art, six books on Utah painting and sculpture, and two books on LDS theology. He lives in Springville, Utah, with his wife, Judy.

Angela Swanson Jones, MA, is a graduate of BYU and holds an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. She serves as exhibition director of the International Art Renewal Center Salon. Angela has published articles with Fine Art Connoisseur and has co-authored the books Desperately Young: Artists Who Died in their Twenties and Dictionary of Utah Fine Artists. Currently, she is writing the biography and catalogue raisonné on the German painter Heinrich Hofmann (1824–1911). After living in Europe for ten years, Angela resides in Fairview, Texas, with her husband, Jason, and three children.

12.5 in H | 10.8 in W | 5.6 lb Wt

ISBN: 9781423665625

On Sale Date: October 14, 2025

More from Vern G. Swanson

This comprehensive reference dictionary, including some images of artwork and author photographs, reveals the exceptional quality and diversity of Utah’s amazing artists through the years.

2023 PubWest Design Awards, Reference

Dictionary of Utah Fine Artists—from Aagard to Zwara and thousands of artists in between—details the styles and experiences of over 4,500 fine artists from the sketches of early exploration artists to Robert Smithson’s world-famous Spiral Jetty to the Western images of Minerva Teichert. Rich images and color plates bring Utah’s masterpieces to life, and black-and-white photographs take the readers on a journey into the artists’ interior world. This sweeping work highlights the rural and the cosmopolitan, the traditional and the modern, and the concrete and the transcendent that encompass Utah art.