Christian Petersen was born in Dybbol, Denmark, on February 25, 1885. When he was nine years old his Danish father and mother found life intolerable under Prussian rule; and with their family emigrated to the United States. Here, as in Europe, the Petersens were farmers, settling in Illinois and later moving to New Jersey. When Christian was old enough his father put him in a school to learn the engraver's trade. Graduating with honors, he quickly found employment and rose to the top of his craft. By the time he was 30 years old, he was a well-established steel engraver. He also studied fine art sculpting, which ultimately became his passion.
In July 1929 at age 44, he moved to Chicago, where philosophically he believed he would be freer to create a truly American artistic expression which would be less influenced by European aesthetics. The Stock Market Crash in October 1929 financially threatened everyone. Petersen had left a lucrative design career behind and found little employment in his new fine art career. In 1934, Grant Wood (1891–1942), Iowa artist and director of the Public Works of Arts Projects (PWAP) asked him to come to Iowa City and work [after being introduced to Petersen the year prior]. His first PWAP assignment was for the Dairy Industry Building at Iowa State College.
Petersen returned to Iowa with his wife Charlotte and completed the Dairy Industry project. This installation included the two interior plaster murals and an exterior terra cotta mural and fountain, both presenting in narrative terms the history of dairying. While Petersen originally was to be in Iowa for six months and create one campus project, he remained for 22 years as Iowa State’s sculptor-in-residence and created 12 major public works of art on this campus, and over 300 studio sculptures. Because Petersen did not maintain a complete listing of all the art he created, it is not known exactly how many he produced during his career. He retired from Iowa State in 1955 and died in 1961 at Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames.
Adapted from: Lea Rosson DeLong “Christian Petersen’s Midwest” University Museums Exhibition January 13-August 7, 2004.
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