Grant Christian

Christian was born in Edinburg, Indiana on July 17, 1911[1].  He graduated from John Herron Art Institute in 1933 where he was taught by prominent Indiana artists including: William Forsythe, Clifton Wheeler and Frank Schoonover.[2] He then attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from which he received the Thouron Prize.  Christian taught art classes at Indiana University from 1936-1937.  Throughout his life, Christian entered and won many design completions and exhibited his work annually at various venues in Indiana, New York and Washington D.C.   In 1969 he submitted 17 entries to the Indiana State Fairgrounds entrance gate design competition[1].  One of his designs won and he received $1,000, but the gate was never built. He was a member of the Portfolio Club and the Art Guild in Nashville, Indiana.  A World War II Army veteran, Christian spent his career as an advertising executive in Indianapolis until his retirement in 1981. He died on May 21, 1989 in Franklin, Indiana.[1]

In 1935 Christian won a contest administered by the Treasury Relief Art Project to create murals for an Indianapolis-based courthouse.  The murals are located on the third floor in the southwest corner of the U.S. Courthouse and Post Office, now the Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse.   There are two themes and each consist of multiple panels.  1) Mail, Transportation and Delivery: The Capital’s First Railroad, Transportation and Communication, Industry and Legislation.  2) Early and Present Day Indianapolis Life: Marion County Pioneers, Clearing and Building, Backwoods Indianapolis, Culture and Education, Safety Patrol, To Those Who Served.[3]

In 1937-38 he was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration create the mural in the Nappanee, Indiana post office titled ‘Waiting for the Mail’.