Beyond Books: Warner Sallman's “Head of Christ”

PATHEOS
By Chris Gehrz
Warner Sallman, “Head of Christ” — © 1941, 1968 Warner Press, Inc., Anderson, Indiana. Used with permission.
To conclude this series responding to Christian History magazine’s list of 25 Christian “writings that changed the church and the world,” I want to go beyond writing altogether and suggest that other modes of creative expression and communication have done just as much to shape Christian belief and imagination. Let’s consider the iconic painting that John mentioned earlier this month… Of course, they’re talking about a 1941 painting by Warner Sallman, one that would sell over 14 million prints in its first three years of existence, as “Americans placed the picture in living rooms or bedrooms as it he was a member of the family” and GIs carried it to the Pacific, North Africa, and Europe. [link]


The Warner Sallman Collection is on display in the Scheierman Gallery, located in the York Performance Hall on the campus of Anderson University, in Anderson, Indiana.