Warner Sallman

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Warner Sallman (1892-1968) was a Christian painter from Chicago. He worked as a freelance illustrator. His portrait of Christ, Head of Christ, of which more than 500 million copies have been sold, is better known than he is[1], however the New York Times in 1994 called him the "best-known artist of the century".[2] He also created commercial advertising images.[3]

He trained by apprenticing in local studios while attending the Chicago Art Institute at night. There he became a protege of Walter Marshall Cluett, a newspaper illustrator noted for his work during the Spanish American War. He initially was affiliated with local studios until he opened one of his own.

The Head of Christ originated as a charcoal sketch entitled The Son of Man done in 1924 and sold to be the cover of the Covenant Companion, the denominational magazine for the Evangelical Covenant Church. He did several variations of the painting over the years, and the first Oil version was done in 1935 for the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration of the Evangelical Covenant Church. In 1940 he was asked to reproduce that painting by the students of North Park Theological Seminary. This reproduction was seen by representatives of the Gospel Trumpet Company, publishing arm of the Church of God (Andersonville IN), who created a new company called Kriebel and Bates to Market Sallman's work. For the next thirty years Kriebel and Bates marketed over 100 Warner Sallman works. When Kriebel and Bates dissolved the Copyrights to these works were acquired by Warner Press. The Baptist Bookstore initially popularized the painting, distributing various sized lithographic images for sale throughout the southern United States. The Salvation Army and the YMCA, as members of the USO, handed out pocket sized versions of the painting to American servicemen heading overseas during World War II. After the war, groups in Oklahoma and Indiana conducted campaigns to distribute the image into private and public spaces. One Lutheran organizer in Illinois "said that there ought to be 'card-carrying Christians' to counter the effect of 'card-carrying Communists.'"[4]

He is also well known for his rendition of the popular image Christ at Heart's Door. Other popular images produced from 1942 to 1950 include Christ in Gethsemane, The Lord is My Shepherd, and Christ Our Pilot.

A major collection of his works is jointly owned by Anderson University and Warner Press, with the college possessing the paintings and drawings and the press holding the copyright and distribution rights.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mehegan, David. "Personal Jesus", Boston Globe, 2004-01-17. Retrieved on August 27, 2006.
  2. ^ Yamauchi, Edward (September 1996). "Afrocentric Biblical Interpretation" (PDF). JETS 39 (3): 397-409. Retrieved on 2006-08-28. 
  3. ^ Todd, Jesse T.. Warner Sallman's Head of Christ. Warner Sallman's Jesus. Drew University. Retrieved on August 27, 2006.
  4. ^ Morgan, David (Summer 2006). "The face that's everywhere". Christian History & Biography (91): 11. 


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