Grant Wright Christian (July 17, 1911 – May 21, 1989) was an American artist. He graduated from the

John Herron Art Institute Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

in 1933 and later attended the

Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

from which he received the

Thouron Prize The Thouron Award is a prestigious postgraduate scholarship established in 1960 by Sir John R.H. Thouron, K.B.E., and Esther du Pont Thouron. It was created to strengthen the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom ...

Biography

Grant Wright Christian was born on July 17, 1911, in Edinburg, Indiana. He was raised on a nearby farm and attended high school. He was inspired by his uncles, artists Franklin Booth and Hanson Booth, and sought a scholarship at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. He was accepted, and was able to complete four years there through scholarships and working in a restaurant. He graduated in 1933, and received a one-year tuition scholarship to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He was awarded the Thouron Prize in composition the following spring. He returned to the John Herron Art Institute for a fifth year in the fall of 1934. Studying under Donald Mattison and Henrik Martin Mayer, he became interested in mural decoration and was encouraged to submit designs for three U.S. government competitions. He was not successful, but the quality of his work earned the attention of the Treasury Department art project administration.

Career

In 1935 Christian won a

Treasury Relief Art Project The Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) was a New Deal arts program that commissioned visual artists to provide artistic decoration for existing Federal buildings during the Great Depression in the United States. A project of the United States De ...

competition to produce two sets of murals for the Indianapolis post office and court house, a building that is today the

Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse The Birch Bayh Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, formerly known as the U.S. Courthouse and Post Office and as the Federal Building, is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, located in Indianapol ...

. The murals are located in the southwest corner of the third floor. The grouping on the south wall is titled ''Mail, Transportation and Delivery''. The panels on the northwest and northeast corners are titled ''Early and Present Day Indianapolis Life''. The project was completed in 1936. The Section of Painting and Sculpture commissioned Christian to create a mural for the United States Post Office in

Nappanee, Indiana Nappanee is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, Elkhart and Kosciusko County, Indiana, Kosciusko counties in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,648 as of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. Census and had grown to 6,913 by the 2 ...

. His wistful mural titled ''Waiting for the Mail'' was completed in 1938.

Death

Christian died in Franklin, Indiana, on Sunday, May 21, 1989, at the age of 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Grant 1911 births 1989 deaths Artists from Indiana Treasury Relief Art Project artists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists American muralists