PROVO — Walter G. Riedel, III, CEO of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, has donated 12 murals painted by Minerva Teichert to the Brigham Young University Museum of Art.

The Western-themed narrative works were collected by H.J. Lutcher Stark between 1954-61. These paintings hung in a private residence owned by Stark and have not been seen by the public for many years. The works are currently on long-term loan to the BYU Museum of Art and will be given to the museum over a number of years. Five of these murals are currently on view in the Museum of Art exhibition "Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint."

"We are thrilled to welcome these works into our collection," said museum director Campbell Gray. "The incredible generosity of the Stark Foundation has enabled us to strengthen our Teichert collection at a time when her work is becoming increasingly recognized in art historical circles and more popular among collectors."

According to Marian Wardle, museum curator of American art, these works are an important addition because they represent a phase of Teichert's career that has not been represented in the museum's holdings. The majority of the works in the museum's collection were painted when Teichert was selling to a Utah-based audience who were primarily members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The works in the Stark collection were painted after 1948.

"Minerva Teichert painted many of her religious works while she was selling through her agent Alice Merrill Horne. Even her Western works from that period depicted an LDS view of Native Americans based on teachings in the Book of Mormon," Wardle said. "But when she started selling her work through Edith Murrell, a new audience expected a certain kind of Native American or Western image — the kind that was seen in the cinema."