Continuing recent trends in the LDS church, leaders today announced stricter rules governing artwork that can be displayed in meetinghouse foyers. The stated goal is to "reflect a deeper reverence for Jesus Christ." A few noteworthy points. /1 newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/art-fo…
First and foremost, this is in line with President Russell Nelson's commitment to emphasize the faith's Christianity, as also seen with his eschewing the "Mormon" nickname, and announcing a new symbol for the church in April. /2
Nelson will be remembered for a lot of things, but among them is his dedication to streamlining the faith's message in a way that highlights overlaps with mainstream Christianity, even to the point of downplaying traditional Mormon uniqueness. /3
Take this new artwork counsel as an example: of the eighteen approved paintings that can be hung in chapel foyers, only two draw from the Book of Mormon. These portraits, in other words, are general Christian depictions. /4 
Further, these new policies will also displace previous cultural practices. Note that they explicitly require churches to remove foyer displays that highlighted those serving on missions, a time-honored tradition, and replace them with the generic Christ-centered images. /5
What this seems to show is that Nelson is less-inclined to perpetuate customs and practices that he feels are peripheral to his message--think also the summer pageants--that previous leaders believed were central to the classic Mormon identity. /6
Finally, as many have mentioned, it's striking these artwork rules, which are binding on congregations throughout the world, are still wedded to a white Christ. It's a bit discordant w/an increasingly global church, where more members are outside Europe-America than inside. /7
In general, a clear picture of Nelson's vision for the church is increasingly clear: streamlined, centrally controlled, and mainstream Christian. /fin
(Parenthetically adding that I can't wait for art and image scholars to dissect these particular paintings and tell us what it says about the current LDS aesthetic. For starters: only two were painted by women.)
