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SAMUEL H. JEPPERSON

1855 - 1931

CountryProvo, Utah, USA

BiographyJepperson was born on December 2, 1854, to Nils Jacob and Susanna Jepperson in Copenhagen, Denmark. They came to Utah in the Christian Christiansen Handcart Company after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His art focused on the history of Utah and the beauty of the outdoors. Samuel's first love was music. He fashioned his first musical instrument, a violin, from cigar box and a thin piece of wood. He purchased his first violin when he was thirteen years old by dragging logs from the head of Slate canyon with a team of oxen. The violin was an old one but Jepperson was eager to get it. The fact that he had no shoes did not stop him and he worked for four days among the rocks and brush to earn his coveted prize. He organized Utah's first brass band, which he conducted for more than 35 years. A productive painter as well as a talented musician, he did over one thousand paintings of Utah's pioneer past and its landscape. Samuel H. Jepperson began his prolific career as an artist at age 17, when he began painting houses. His employer gave him art lessons for a short time, and then he taught himself, mimicking the work of Utah Impressionist John Hafen and learning through a close association with German artist John Seleck and New York painter George H. Taggart. Seleck and Jepperson painted the scenery for the new opera house together. He went on numerous sketching trips with Dan Weiglund and John Hafen and spent some time in Provo Canyon sketching with J.T. Harwood and Alfred Lambourne. In 1874 he spent six months working on the St. George Temple. He lived close to the land. Lead poisoning forced him to quit his job as a house painter, so he removed himself to the outdoors, becoming a farmer. By his death in 1931, Jepperson had become one of the most respected farmers in Utah Valley, and his apple orchards were the model orchards in the area. He was known more amongst his neighbors for his prize-winning apples than for his art. Samuel did a lot of paintings while relaxing from his work on the farm. His wife Minnie explained, "Samuel would often take his paints and easel with him into the field and set them up under a tree before commencing the day's work." The artist loved the outdoors, so the majority of his works are landscapes. He even painted using nature, making pigments from berries, roots, and leaves because tubes of coloring were unavailable in Provo at that time. Samuel Jepperson died in 1931 from injuries sustained while working in his orchard. The artist B.F. Larsen eulogized him in the local newspaper, "I am astonished when I think of his understanding of nature and his ability to convey his thoughts and feelings with brush and paint. His formal schooling in art was limited. But his artistic soul found an adequate and beautiful way of expression, which we all understand and appreciate."

Information taken from the artist's constituent binder in The Print Study Room.
Entered by: Michael Clayton, Print Study Room Staff, 2/7/06

Person TypeIndividual