Millard F. Malin

Millard Fillmore Malin Jr (October 25, 1891 – March 1975) was an American sculptor most noted for his statues of the Angel Moroni, such as the one on the Los Angeles Temple, and the Sugar House Monument.^[1][2][3] He sculpted in the realist style.^[2] He worked extensively with architect Edward O. Anderson, designing statuary for several other Latter-day Saints temples, such as the ones in Switzerland, England and New Zealand.^[3] He also sculpted busts of figures such as Henry H. Blood, former Governor of Utah.^[4]

Malin was born on October 25, 1891 in Salt Lake City^[5][1][6] to Millard Fillmore Malin Sr (1851-1937)^[7][6] and Annie Pinnock Malin^[6] (1863-1935).^[8] He had three sisters.^[7][8] Malin's mother was born in London but raised in the United States, and was involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by composing songs and poems for children.^[8] He traveled to New Zealand in 1909 and lived there for three years as a missionary.^[1][5]

When he returned to Utah, he studied medicine, specifically human anatomy, at the University of Utah. There, he befriended Edward O. Anderson and studied under as Edwin Evans,^[5][4] but left in 1915 after just one year so he could save money to study art in New York.^[2][4][1] In 1917, he started attending the National Academy of Design, where he studied under Hermon A. MacNeil.^[1][9] He also studied design at Beaux-Arts Institute of Design.^[4][9] During his schooling, he worked with MacNeil on the Statue of Ezra Cornell at Cornell University.^[4] In the 1920s, he worked as an assistant to Gutzon Borglum on the Confederate Memorial Carving at Stone Mountain in Georgia.^[1][4] After completing his education, Malin returned to Utah, where he established a studio with Edward Anderson. The two collaborated on the Sugar House Monument, which was completed in 1930,^[1][2] and he sculpted statues, including Angel Moroni, for several of the LDS temples designed by Anderson.^{[10][11][5][3]}

In 1934, he completed a bronze bust of Governor Henry H. Blood, now at Camp Williams.^[4] In 1934 and 1935, he worked on two marble busts of Ute Natives, Chief John Duncan (1849-1941) and Unca Sam (1832-1938), now housed at the Utah State Capitol, for the Federal Art Project.^[12][13][4] In 1953, he created a 15-foot tall Angel Moroni for the Los Angeles Temple.^[5][14][15] He then designed the oxen that hold up the baptismal font of the Bern Switzerland Temple^[11] and created additional sculptures for the temples in England and the New Zealand.^[3] In 1964, he sculpted three giant concrete dinosaurs, the largest reaching 17 feet tall, to be installed at the Utah Field House of Natural History.^[16]

Malin taught sculpture at the Utah Art Center in the 1930s and 1940s,^{[17][18][1][6]} and at Gonzaga University.^[6] Among those who studied under Malin were Maurice E. Brooks and Alice Morrey Bailey.^[19] He was also a founding member of the Modern Artists of Utah and had at least one poem published in the LDS Church's periodical Improvement Era.^[1] He also wrote three books about planetary systems: The Center of Gravity, Solar Arrangement, and Mystery of the Sun.^[6][1]

Malin married Rosalind Pidge Marshall (1913-1971) in Elko, Nevada in August 1958. She was a schoolteacher and sculptor.^[20][6] Malin died at his home in Salt Lake City in March 1975.^[1][6]

His childhood home, built by his father in 1889, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in July 1983.^[21]