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Reuben John Kirkham (13 October 1845,
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Never in very good health, he died in 1886 from what was officially diagnosed as "typhoid pneumonia". Echo maintained that he died from exposure to the chemicals in his paints.
Reuben John Kirkham (13 October 1845, Spalding, Lincolnshire
Spalding () is a market town on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. The town had a population of 31,588 at the 2011 census. The town is the administrative centre of the South Holland District. The town is ...
- 17 April 1886, Logan, Utah
Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...
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Find-a-Grave
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was an American landscape painter.
Biography
His family emigrated to the United States while he was still a child. His sister, Ann, married a member of the LDS Church and, eventually, the entire family converted.Review of Poulton's book (op.cit.)@ 15 Bytes Various problems kept them from reaching the
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total po ...
for almost a decade, but they finally arrived in 1868.Entry@ the
Marriott Library
The J. Willard Marriott Library is the main academic library of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The university library has had multiple homes since the first University of Utah librarian was appointed in 1850. The current building ...
The gift of a paint box several years earlier had given him the desire to become an artist, and he taught himself while performing odd jobs. After a time of wandering, he made friends with the painter, Alfred Lambourne
Alfred Lambourne (February 2, 1850 – June 6, 1926) is an English-born American artist and author. In the 1860s, he and his family moved to the American West with the Mormon pioneers. He is best remembered for his paintings, but he also wrote ...
, a fellow Englishman, and they painted scenes for the Lehi Music Hall. Many of his later landscapes would contain imaginary features. A trip back East in 1874, with the intent of taking formal lessons, ended with his money bring stolen.
In 1876, he married Echo Levinia Squires (1856-1943), from an early pioneer family. They had five children.
Inspired by his early theatrical work, he began creating panoramas. The first, created together with Lambourne, featured scenery from throughout the United States. Later, he spent two years (1883-1885) touring Utah with a nineteen scene panorama, based on episodes and places from the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...
. The presentation included live performances.
Never in very good health, he died in 1886 from what was officially diagnosed as "typhoid pneumonia". Echo maintained that he died from exposure to the chemicals in his paints.
References
Further reading
* Donna L. Poulton, ''Reuben Kirkham: Pioneer Artist'', Cedar Fort Inc., 2012External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkham, Reuben 1845 births 1886 deaths 19th-century American painters Immigrants to the United States Painters from Utah American landscape painters Panoramas People from Spalding, Lincolnshire