Chronology

The major events in the life of Christian Petersen have been adapted from various sources, including Christian Petersen Remembered by Patricia Lounsbury Bliss, the scholarship of Lea Rosson DeLong, as well as available public information. Where discrepancies exist, an explanation is offered with citation.

Indented points relate to global events and Petersen’s sphere of influence as it relates to other important artists and individuals.

1880s-1900

1885    
Christian Petersen born February 25 at Dybbøl in Schleswig region of Denmark.

1888-1897  
Augustus Saint-Gaudens taught at Art Students League, New York City.

1894    
Emigrated from Denmark with his parents (Peter and Helene) and siblings Anna Fredrica (1888-1984) and Peter (1891-1963).  After three years living near Paxton, Illinois, the family moved to a farm near Newark, New Jersey. (farm near New Jersey coast, (Bliss pg. 3). Anna later lived in Whitehouse, NJ)

1898
James Earle Fraser became studio assistant for Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1899-1900
Petersen paints Death of First Born, oil on canvas, his earliest known two-dimensional work of art.

1900s

1900
June 11, recorded in unnumbered house on Runyon Street, Essex County, NJ in the home of Peter Petersen (freight yard porter, 41), Helena (no occupation listed, 41), Christian (at school, 15), Peter (at school, 13), Anna (at school, 11). Birth nation listed for all as “Germany.” (U.S. Census)

1900-1902
Petersen enters the Newark Technical and Fine Arts School of New Jersey, beginning a two-year study as an apprentice in die-cutting and graduating at age 17.

1901   
Petersen sculpts and casts a silver medal and bronze version, Min Moder (My Mother) as his earliest known three-dimensional medallic work of art. 

1902
Petersen begins working as a steel engraver and die-cutter while attending night classes at Fawcett School of Design in Newark for the next two years.

James Earle Fraser opens his own studio.  He begins teaching at New York Art Students League in 1906 and later becomes its director.

1904-1910
Possible influence connection to sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Henry Hudson and Theo R. Kitson, and James Earle Frazer.

1904
Saint-Gaudens studio fire, Cornish, New Hampshire.

The Iowa Memorial at Vicksburg begun by Henry Hudson Kitson, dedicated in Nov. 1906, and finished in 1912. Constructed with Vermont white granite (Barre, VT). Equestrian statue added in 1912 and was a collaborative effort by Henry Hudson and Theo Kitson.

1905
June 13, unnumbered house on Clinton Place, Essex County, NJ. In the home of Peter Petersen (farmer, 47), Helena (housewife, 46), Christian (die cutter, 20), Peter (carpenter, 18), Anna (no occupation listed, 16). Birth nation listed for all as “Denmark.” (New Jersey State Census)

Statistics of Labor & Industry of 1905 states: “Essex County: Christian Peterson [sic], while working on a shearing machine at Strieby & Foote's drop forging establishment, Newark, had a hand caught in the machinery and badly bruised.” (Twenty-Eighth Annual Report of Bureau of Statistics, Labor and Industries of New Jersey, For the Year Ending October 31^st, 1905. Trenton, N. J., Maccruwtsh & Quiglisy, States Printers, p. 284.)

1906
Augustus Saint-Gaudens appointed advisor to the Vicksburg National Military Park by President Theodore Roosevelt.

1907
Study for head of Victory by Saint-Gaudens completed. The plaster cast Nikh-Eiphnh by Saint-Gaudens is in Christian Petersen Art Collection and was gift of the George Nerney family.

1907    
Petersen enrolls in the Art Students League in New York and studies life drawing under George Bridgeman, while also attending classes at the Beaux Arts Institute of Architecture and Design in New York. (Bliss, pg. 4-5, however Delong says this occurred in 1910.)

Petersen begins work as a die-cutter at the Robbins Company in Attleboro, Mass., which specializes in jewelry, medals, medallions and other metal objects. Petersen works as a die-cutter, steel engraver, design artist and intaglio engraver. First known work of art is a medal of Greek goddess Athena holding branch, with an owl on a stack of books and a lamp on a pedestal, created in 1915 and later cast multiple times by Robbins Company.

George E. Nerney (1885-1971) becomes Petersen’s steadfast friend for the next fifty-four years and encourages Petersen’s ambitions as a fine art sculptor.

Petersen joins Henry Hudson Kitson studio in Boston. (Bliss, pg. 5-6, but offers no citation. Delong calls this an “association” with the Kitsons’ studio that occurred in 1920.)

1908    
June 24, Attleboro marriage registry lists Christian Petersen (23) and Emma Louise Hoenicke (19) married in Pawtucket, RI. First marriage for both. Christian is a “die maker” in “Attleborough [sic].” Officiated by A. J. Pechtold of the Evang. Lutheran in Pawtucket, RI.

1909    
July 24, birth of daughter, Helene Louise, in Attleboro, MA.  Petersen is listed in the registry as a “die cutter.”

Attleboro City Directory lists Christian at 229-1/2 Park.

1910s

1910    
Petersen enrolled in an “Antique” drawing class taught by George Bridgman at the Art Students League in New York in October and November.  His residence was listed as Newark, NJ.  (Delong, Urban Artist, pg.33. Bliss says this happened in 1907, however offers no citation.)

1911-12
Living again in Attleboro, Petersen attended art classes at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. 

1912
July 31, birth of son, Lawrence Christian, in Attleboro, MA. Petersen is listed in the registry as a “die cutter.”

1913
Attleboro City Directory list Christian at 20 East (rear)

1914 
World War I (The Great War) begins in Europe.

1915    
April 4, birth of daughter, Ruth Elinor, in Attleboro, MA. Petersen is listed in the registry as a “die cutter.”

Attleboro City Directory lists Petersen at 11 Starkey Ave.

April 26 – May 8, Petersen’s sculpture The Brute Force of War is accepted in a competition with a theme of war for the “Friends of the Young Artists” chaired by Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney (Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum of Modern Art) at the Reinhardt Galleries, New York. Friends of the Young Artists is composed of established painters, sculptors, and well-known patrons of the arts. The subject of war was chosen for his pupils by Daniel Chester French. Competitors were given three weeks to execute their vision in plaster. From The Outlook, 1915: “SCULPTURE AND THE WAR - The other day the eminent sculptor Mr. Daniel Chester French asked his pupils to put into plaster what they thought of the war The result is a singularly interesting exhibition at the Reinhardt Galleries 565 Fifth Avenue New York City given under the auspices of the society called “Friends of the Young Artists.” Participation listed in the New York Times, April 1, 1915. On the advisory board are Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Thomas Hastings, and Edward H. Blashfield; the committee of arrangements of the exhibition included Miss Anna K. Hyatt, Messrs, Frank Purdy, and W. deB. Nelson. (American Art News 1915-04-24: Vol 13 Iss 29.)

June, Bust of Lincoln (1910-1915) by Petersen displayed in the front window of jeweler Kent & Elliot, Attleboro, MA. [The Jewelers' Circular 1915-06-02: Vol 70 Iss 18]

One of Petersen’s plaster sculptures, The Mother: A Wartime Conception, was featured on the June 5, 1915 cover of The Survey, an American magazine on social and political issues published in New York in the early and mid-20th century.

1916 
Petersen creates a bas relief portrait of United States Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, made for L.G. Balfour Company, Attleboro, MA and cast by Gorham Co. Bronze Division, Providence, RI from original in walnut. Sculpts relief portrait of the painter Caleb Arnold Slade. These would be the first of many bas reliefs and sculpture cast by Gorham over a 30-year period.

1917    
Petersen’s sculpture, Josiah Everett Draper, accepted at annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Josiah was the great grandfather of Richard Draper, grandson of Christian’s sister, Anna Petersen).

March, members of the Utopian Club of Providence, RI, had an exhibition of metalwork at Tilden-Thurber Corp. Petersen exhibited a set of plaques and medals including figures of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Evans Hughes. (Known from the Jewelers’ Circular Weekly, March 28, 1917, p. 69.)

Attleboro City Directory lists Christian at 315 South Main.

April, United States declares war against Germany.

Designed Doughboy of WWI medallion. Medal shows a soldier bayoneting a grotesque beast (dragon) attacking a woman (representing Europe). Struck by the L.G. Balfour Company, Attleboro, MA.

1918    
First known critical notice on Petersen’s sculptural work appeared in article “The Rise of a New Paul Revere” in the Boston Transcript by critic William MacDonald, a native of Attleboro.

Spring, Petersen created the Attleboro War Chest, a bronze plaque for collecting war donations from the citizens of Attleboro, MA for soldiers overseas.

Designed the General John Pershing medal cast by Whitehead and Hoag, Newark, NJ.

Designed for Roll of Honor for World War I monument in Attleboro, MA. Commissioned by Tilden-Thurber, cast by Gorham Co., April 10, 1918, dedicated Dec. 2, 1918. (Known from Attleboro Town Annual Report, 1918)

September 12, Petersen’s WWI draft card. Address listed as 153 Park (St.) Attleboro, 33 years old, self-employed die cutter (lists employers name as “Christian Petersen”) with business address as 17 Academy, Attleboro.  Description: Tall, Stout, blue eyes, yellow hair, and no obvious physical disqualification.

November, World War I ends.

1919    
Commissioned for his first known public sculpture, Nurses Memorial, for the city of Attleboro. "A bronze tablet, the work of Christian Peterson [sic]…A tribute from the women of Attleboro to the memory of Ruth Holden and Alice Illingsworth Haskell, was placed in the reading room as a suitable place until the erection of the municipal building." (Known from the Attleboro Town Annual Report, 1919.)

Attleboro City Directory lists Christian at 153 Park.

May through June, Petersen’s Roosevelt bust portrait is part of the Roosevelt Memorial Exhibition, Avery Architectural Library, Columbia University, New York alongside busts by James Earle Frasier and medals by Anna Hyatt. (Known from American Art News, New York, May 24, 1919.)

Petersen designed Liberty, Justice, Peace, Honor medal for L.G. Balfour Co., Attleboro, MA. (The Sun Chronicle (Attleboro, MA) Jul 9, 2013.)

1920s

Throughout this period Petersen received many commissions for portraiture and medallion work. These included portrait medallions, Reverend John Moore of Brooklyn College, Harvard President Charles W. Eliot, bas relief of Prince and Princess Bibescu of Romania, and a bas relief of John Cotton Dana, director of the Newark Art Museum, N.J. among others.

It is also noted in several articles that Petersen had his own shop for steel engraving commissions until the low point of the Depression. ("He Has Carved a Heritage", The Iowan, Vol. 2 No. 3, Feb. - March 1954.)

1920   
Sculpted and cast in bronze editioned memorial bas portrait reliefs of a standing President Theodore Roosevelt, who died on January 6, 1919.  

January 5, 153 Park Street, Attleboro, MA. Christian as head of household (die cutter, own shop, 35), Emma (none, 31), Helen (10), Lawrence (7), and Ruth (4-9/12).  Petersen is listed as having naturalized in 1916. (U.S. Census)

Around 1920 Petersen becomes associated with Boston sculptors, Henry Hudson Kitson and Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson, and all three maintained a studio in Boston (4 Harcourt). Petersen worked as assistant in the Quincy, Massachusetts studio, an association which brought Petersen sculpture commissions, including those from the state of Iowa.

1921-1923
Around 1921, Petersen installed two large, over life-size sculptures of panthers on the estate of a prominent Rhode Island businessman. What we have come to call the Petersen Panthers were placed atop two tall pillars at an entrance to Wildacres, the estate of Charles J. Davol of Providence, Rhode Island.

Petersen is commissioned to create bronze portrait busts of former Rhode Island Governors Emery J. Sans Souci, Aram Poither, and R.L. Beeckman.

Bear sculpture was created as a possible commemorative for Yellowstone National Park. (Papers, SC, Box 4 f. 16, letter of Sept. 21, 1942, Nerney has "small bronze bear which you made for Yellowstone National Park") This sculpture is preceded by several copyrighted designs for souvenir spoons in 1912 that depict bears for Yellowstone produced by Chas. M. Robbins Co.

Petersen’s first visit to Iowa was in the early 1920s to create a portrait medal for then president of Bankers Life, George Kuhn, and an Equitable of Iowa medal.  Petersen establishes contacts with other patrons in Iowa, notably Edgar J. Harlan, Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of the State of Iowa. He also finds patronage for portraits among prominent Des Moines businesses and families such as the Hubbells, Mannheimers, and Stuarts.

Pilgrim Man and Wife sculpture created, location unknown. (Known from the magazine article "Cape Cod and all the Pilgrim Land" March 1921. Image published on pg. 24. Exhibited at the "Utopian Club", Providence, RI. Mentioned in American Art News, Sat. May 14, 1921.)

Janie Flynn Memorial, bas relief created to commemorate a nurse who died during the influenza epidemic in 1918, for Taunton State Hospital, Taunton, Mass.

1921
Attleboro City Directory lists Petersen at 153 Park.

1922    
Feature article in the The National Magazine, January 1922 issue.

Petersen lives and works in Providence, RI at 144 Westminster St. (Source: The Jewelers' Circular, Volume 86, Issue 1.)

1923    
Petersen lives and works in Attleboro, MA. (The Jewelers' Circular, Volume 86, Issue 1, Feb. 21, 1923). Attleboro City Directory lists Petersen at 14 Park Ave.

Attleboro chapter of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) formed. Petersen is made an honorary member in the following year.

Petersen received his first public bronze sculpture-in-the-round commission, the Spanish-American Memorial, in honor of citizens who had fought in the Spanish American War of 1898, located in Equity Park, Newport, Rhode Island. “…recently erected in Equality Park, Newport, R. I. by Rear Admiral Charles M. Thomas, Camp No. 3, United Spanish War Veterans of that city, was furnished by the Tilden-Thurber Corp.” Commissioned by Tilden-Thurber Corp., Providence, RI and cast at the Elmwood foundry of the Gorham Mfg. Co. (The Jewelers’ Circular, Aug. 15, 1923.)

Another early trip to Iowa to design the Equitable Life Medal. (Lund, Jean (1947) "Christian Petersen Shapes 3-Ton Coeds," The Iowa Homemaker: Vol. 27 : No. 3 , Article 8; Olson, Gwen (1954) "Aesthetic Fingertips," The Iowa Homemaker: Vol. 34 : No. 7 , Article 3; "He Has Carved a Heritage", The Iowan, Vol. 2 No. 3, Feb. - March 1954.)

1924    
Petersen’s growing reputation leads to commissions from the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, for a World War I commemorative sculpture, the Battery D Memorial.  Cast in bronze by Continental Bronze Co., Pawtucket, RI, the sculpture depicts a soldier loading an artillery shell.

Given honorary membership in Attleboro American Federation of the Arts (AFA).

November 19 - December 7: Petersen’s first known major exhibition, shared with the painter Caleb Arnold Slade, at the Attleboro Public Library, sponsored by the Attleboro American Federation of the Arts (AFA). (Known from Attleboro Town Annual Report, 1924.)

1925
Attleboro City Directory lists Petersen at 14 Park Ave.

First commemorative medallion by Petersen, a medal with bust of United States President Woodrow Wilson facing left is cast by Robbins Co., Attleboro, Mass. a year after Wilson’s death. A December 28, 1925, New York Times article states that medals were to be handed out to attendees of the Wilson birthday dinner event, Hotel Astor, NYC. They are 2 inches in diameter and "cast from the sculptured head carved by Christian Petersen."

Petersen designs the Prudential Insurance Company Medal for the company’s 50th Anniversary. 30,000 medals were struck by Whitehead and Hoag, Newark, NJ. Petersen was listed as a represented artist at Whitehead & Hoag as late as a 1953 sales letter. (The Medalist, vol. 6, no. 3, Dec. 1989, p. 4 and vol. 6, no. 4, March 1990.)

Twelve spoons are designed by George E. Nerney and die-cut by Petersen for the Robbins Company, Attleboro, Massachusetts.

1926
Petersen designs the Warren G. Harding Memorial Medallion struck by Whitehead and Hoag, Newark, NJ, and the Leslie Dana Medal for Blind Prevention Work.

September - October, Petersen exhibits two works of art, a portrait of Joseph G. Wolber and a “massive head” of Lincoln, at the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, 10th anniversary of exhibition of artists in the vicinity.

Late-1920s
Petersen devotes increasing time to his fine arts sculpture and was included in local and regional exhibitions.

1927  
Raymond M. Hughes is named president of Iowa State College.

Fall, Petersen once again exhibits at the Montclair Art Museum, “portrait sketch” and “portrait of a woman.”

1928    
October 28 - November 11: participated in a group exhibition at the Attleboro Public Library, sponsored by the Attleboro American Federation of the Arts.

Petersen and his wife, Emma, separated, and he signs over their home and savings to her and left with few financial assets to move to Chicago in November, determined to begin a new life and career in the Midwest.  He took with him a contract to create the Fountain of the Blue Herons for the A.E. Staley Company in Decatur, Illinois. (Bliss, pg. 12.)

Petersen designs the George Washington Medallion based on Gilbert Stuart's portrait of the former president. The original medal was struck by Robbins Co., Attleboro, MA and commemorating the Meeting of the General Society of the Cincinnati at Boston, 1929.

Raymond M. Hughes establishes the Iowa State College Art Committee which takes a leadership role in commissioning public art on the Iowa State College campus during the Great Depression.

1929    
Christian (occupation: artist) and Emma are listed in the Dayton, Ohio city directory at 44 Bond Street.

March, Christian Petersen returns east to work in Philadelphia from Des Moines where he was working fulfilling commissions for Earl George, Inc. (Known from article in Des Moines Tribune, Mar 8, 1929.)

In May, an article “Foreign Study Not Needed, Sculptor Says” was picked up by the International News Service wire out of Des Moines and featured in numerous papers across the country. The article features Petersen’s view on European study hindering American sculptors.

In summer or fall of 1929, Petersen visits Cedar City, Utah, and sculpts a memorial tablet to the explorations of Reverend Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. The tablet is officially dedicated Oct. 12, 1930, before a crowd of over 500. The memorial tablet honoring Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Franciscan missionary and explorer of the Southwest United States during the late 18th century. (Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), Nov. 2, 1929.)

In October, Petersen speaks to the Des Moines Women’s Club on bronze sculpture alongside Prof. O.R. Sweeney. He is listed in an article in the Des Moines Register as a sculptor from Dayton, Ohio. Presiding over Petersen’s talk is Louise Orwig and there are several portraits in bronze that are exhibited as well. (See Des Moines Register, Oct. 6, 1929) Portrait bas relief of Howard Webster Byers exhibited at Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, Iowa, for the initial Oct. 11 meeting of the art department of the Women's Club. Petersen was introduced by Louise Orwig. (Des Moines Register, Oct. 10, 1929. Article has image of Petersen working on bas relief, see above.)

In October, Petersen was living temporarily in the Chicago YMCA when the stock market collapsed, and the Great Depression began. (Bliss, pg. 13-15.)

In late November, Petersen was hired by Chicago jewelry manufacturers Dodge and Ascher for $100 per week. ("He Has Carved a Heritage", The Iowan, Vol. 2 No. 3, Feb. - March 1954.)

Petersen continues private commissions and begins sculpting portraits of Meskwaki tribal leaders commissioned by State of Iowa Curator, Edgar J. Harlan.

December, per a receipt from the State of Iowa, payment made to the Wellington Hotel for rooms used by Petersen from December 16-30, 1929. “These rooms were used for the purpose of securing sittings for busts of Indians to be modeled by Christian Petersen for the Historical Dept.”

1930s

James Earl Fraser receives commission for President Theodore Roosevelt equestrian statue for New York City Natural History Museum. It is installed in 1939, 20 years after Roosevelt’s death.

1930    
January, Petersen’s c. 1929 portraits of Edgar Harlan and Jay N. (“Ding”) Darling are accepted for 125^th annual exhibition at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  (Catalogue for the 125th Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Jan. 26 - March 16, 1930.)

April 2, Charlotte Garvey is listed at 18 East Elm Street, room 206, Chicago, Illinois.  She is 31 and listed as a secretary for a jewelry manufacturer (Dodge and Ascher). Her roommate is Gladys Heimbaugh, 24, manager of a jewelry store. Their rent is $60 a month and they do not have a radio. (U.S. Census)

April 10, Christian is listed at 612 Easton (Street), Dayton, Ohio. Emma Petersen is listed as head of household and married (no employment, 42), Helena (filing clerk, telephone, 20), and Ruth (14). The house is rented at $35 a month and they own a radio. (U.S. Census)

April 26, 826 South Wabash (YMCA Hotel). Christian Petersen is not listed as a guest at the hotel in the census taken that day. (U.S. Census Chicago, Ward 1, Block 164, Enumeration District No. 16-6, Districts 0001-0250, ED 6). The address he gave in a divorce petition in August 1931 is 18 East Elm and he said he had lived in Chicago since January 1930.

Petersen’s portraits of Chicagoan Helen Filkey and Knute Rockne received press attention. Photos of Helen and her portrait bust run in several newspapers across the country. (News-Pilot (San Pedro, California) Sept. 15, 1930, and several other papers.) Rockne sat for Petersen in South Bend, Ind. in September before his death in a plane accident. (The Times (Munster, Indiana), May 14, 1931.)

While in Chicago, Petersen became well acquainted with Royal Danish Consul General Reimund Baumann, and with the renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. Thus, it is likely that he also became an acquaintance of librarian J. Christian Bay during those 6 years in Chicago. Bay would go on to release “The Yellow Envelope” with two original illustrations by Petersen. (Bay, J. Christian (2007) "The Yellow Envelope," The Bridge: Vol. 30: No. 1, Article 10.)

Petersen sculpted bronze portrait bust of James D. Edmundson, founder of the Des Moines Art Center. Later in 1959 he would sculpt a bas relief of the founder permanently installed at the entrance to the Art Center.

On July 19, 1930, the firm Herff-Jones announces its purchase of Dodge and Ascher for $300,000. The firm retains former owner, Vernon K. Ascher, and the company’s salesforce, however “plant equipment of the Dodge and Ascher Company has been removed to Indianapolis, where it has been added to the manufacturing units of the Herff-Jones Company.”

1931    
Christian (sculptor) and Emma are listed in the Dayton, Ohio city directory at 612 Easton St.

In an article, Petersen is listed as living at 18 East Elm St., Chicago. (The Times [Munster, Indiana], May 14, 1931.)

July 26, “Charges of desertion were made by: Christian Petersen, 18 East Elm Street, against Mrs. Emma L. Petersen.” (Chicago Tribune, 7/26/31, page 50.)

November 6, a decree of divorce signed by Judge Daniel P. Trude and filed by the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, granted Christian a divorce on grounds of desertion.

December 15, Christian married Charlotte Garvey (February 23, 1899-December 15, 1985). An announcement of the marriage was published in the Belvidere (Illinois) Daily Republican on February 23, 1932. (However, the marriage license filed in Cook County, Illinois was dated 11/17/1936.)

1932    
Petersen resumed full time sculpting and moved his studio to Belvidere, Illinois. 

In May, a suit against Mrs. E.T. Meredith for failing to pay for a commissioned sculpture of her husband, famed publisher E.T. Meredith by Christian Petersen, was dismissed by the courts. The plaintiff was Earl George, Inc.  (Des Moines Register, May 24, 1932.)

In August, Petersen proposes a war memorial, To You From Falling Hands, to American Legion of Iowa. He is listed as a Chicago artist (Des Moines Tribune, Aug. 1, 1932 and in The Des Moines Register, Aug. 19, 1932.)

Amos Emery, architect, provided Petersen with studio space in his architectural office, 5^th and Keosauqua Way, Des Moines.

Christian and Charlotte Petersen spend much of the year in Des Moines working on commissions from Edgar Harlan and private Des Moines citizens. Slow payments on sculpture commissions resulting in illness from malnutrition and severe financial constraints for the couple were eased by small loan from Des Moines patrons. (Letter at the Iowa Historical Society dated 12/5/1932 notes that the Petersen’s owe “about $165” in back rent at the Elliott Hotel (219 Fourth Street). This supports catalog #110 portrait of Willis Newsome in lieu of rent.)

Late summer: Following a week-long driving tour through Iowa with Edgar Harlan, Charlotte and Christian first meet President Raymond Hughes on the steps of Beardshear Hall, Iowa State College. Harlan suggested that Hughes might have a sculpture commission under consideration.

“One of the important medals struck for the George Washington Bicentennial Celebration in 1932 was the one by the State of Rhode Island. This medal was distributed on the occasion of the Rhode Island General Assembly Celebration of the George Washington Bicentennial. A session of the Assembly was held to celebrate the event. The medals were given to members of the Assembly and to distinguished guests as mementoes of this official celebration. There were 500 of the medals prepared by the Robbins Company for the State of Rhode Island. They were designed by the sculptor, Christian Peterson [sic], and were struck from genuine bronze. The medal is two and one- half inches in diameter. The obverse consists of a fine bust of Washington and no other marking or decoration whatsoever. On the reverse are the following words arranged in six lines as written below: In Commemoration of the George Washington Bicentennial 1732 — 1932 Underneath these words, in the lower center, on a shield back ground in three lines are the words: State of Rhode Island Surrounding all of the letters one sides are two sprays of leaves. This medal is a very attractive example of medallic art.” (Hobbies: The Magazine for Collectors, Sept. 1952, p. 125.)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected President of the United States, promising a “New Deal” for Americans suffering from the effects of the Depression.

1933    

Petersen’s Lincoln (seated), also referred to as “Young Lincoln”, receives second honorable mention as chosen by the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Committee in a Milwaukee, WI national sculpture competition at the Milwaukee Art Institute. During the month of June, the work of art is exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Museum. (The Art Digest, July 1, 1933; The American Magazine of Art, August 1933, p. 395; Des Moines Register, July 2,1933.)

In April, Petersen judges with Louise Orwig and Amos Emery a city-wide soap sculpture competition for K-12 students in Des Moines with the winning entries forwarded to the national contest for sculpting in Ivory soap sponsored by Proctor & Gamble. (Des Moines Register, Apr. 6, 1933.)

George Biddle writes to President Roosevelt in May with a suggestion for putting artists to work, resulting in the first New Deal art program, the Public Works of Art Project (December 8, 1933–April 28, 1934).

In June, Chicago based artist Lorado Taft speaks at Iowa State College’s Memorial Union as part of the State 4H convention. (Ames Daily Tribune and Times, June 15th, 1933).

In July, the Petersen’s leave Des Moines returning to Belvidere, Illinois to work on the Mishawaka sculpture for Mishawaka, Indiana. The sculpture design was selected for the monument among dozens of competing designs by noted sculptors from the east and west. (Des Moines Register, July 2, 1933.)

Mid-July, Petersen spends the summer completing portrait commissions in Des Moines, his first known Midwestern solo exhibition, “Sculptures by Christian Petersen,” with 65 works of art opened in the Younkers Tea Room Gallery in Des Moines, July 17 - September 1. The Lincoln (seated) model and To You From Falling Hands are featured. (Des Moines Register, Aug. 13, 1933; Des Moines Register, July 2,1933; Des Moines Register, Aug. 3, 1933.)

Petersen received his first portrait bust commission for Iowa State College, one of Louis Pammel, a pioneer scientist in botany and bacteriology. Hughes and Petersen begin discussions for other campus sculptures, especially for the new Dairy Industry Building which opened in 1928. (Papers, SC, Box 4 f.5, letter Raymond Hughes to Petersen, Jan. 29, 1934, referencing a previous visit with Prof. Mortensen. Ames Daily Tribune and Times, July 18th, 1933).

Patrons and friends, such as Hughes and Harlan recommended Petersen to Grant Wood for the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in Iowa which began in Iowa City on December 8.

1934    
January 16, invited and hired by Grant Wood for the Public Works of Art Project, the Petersens permanently moved to Iowa, first to Iowa City.  Petersen’s assignment was a sculpted mural for what was then the Dairy Industry Building, a project commissioned from President Raymond M. Hughes, Iowa State College. (Papers, SC, Box 5 f.12, letter from Grant Wood to Petersen, Jan. 16, 1934; Box 4 f.5, letter Raymond Hughes to Petersen, Jan. 29, 1934.)

March 2, Grant Wood and Petersen visited Ames to draw up plans for the terra cotta and fountain. (The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA), Mar. 3, 1934; Ames Daily Tribune, Mar. 7, 1934.)

The federal Public Works of Art Project officially ends on April 28.

In August, PWAP artists “steal the show,” sweeping the awards for top prizes at the Iowa State Fair exhibition. Christian Petersen presents a special exhibition of his portrait bust of Grant Wood because there was no sculpture category.

August 28, birth and death of Christian and Charlotte’s first born, Peter William, in Des Moines.

In October, the Petersens moved permanently to Ames where Hughes hired Petersen as sculptor-in-residence at Iowa State College. His duties included creating sculptures for campus and teaching classes in sculpture to the all-female applied art program in the Home Economics Division.  Petersen reported to Paul E. Cox head of the Ceramic Engineering Division, who had been assigned to help him build a kiln and fire panels for the dairy mural. (Quad-City Times, Nov. 26, 1934.)

October, Iowa Artist exhibition in the Great Hall, Memorial Union, Iowa State College. Petersen’s bust of Grant Wood is on exhibition. October 22, 6^th Annual Iowa Artist’s Dinner at the Memorial Union. (Ames Daily Tribune, Sep. 24, 1934.)

November, Iowa Artist exhibition displayed at University of Iowa, Iowa City.

1935-36   
Petersen collaborates with Harlan, Bessie Coon and Halla Rhode, on Cha-Ki-Shi, a children’s schoolbook illustrated by Petersen about the Meskwaki Nation. Cha-Ki-Shi is published by Scribner’s in 1936.

1935    
Petersen embarks on his career as campus sculptor, maintaining that position until his retirement in 1955.

April, Petersen installed the first of many public sculptures at Iowa State College: the seven-panel relief mural, The History of Dairying. At least a hundred firing periods of sixty hours each took place from September 1934 through April 1935 before Petersen’s first large scale project for Iowa State College, the History of Dairying Mural, fountain sculpture and reflecting pool were installed. It is noted in an article by Mrs. L. Worthington Smith that this work of art is the first terra cotta made with native clays in Iowa. The clays were from pits near Fort Dodge and were a gift of the Fort Dodge Chamber of Commerce. (Des Moines Register, Feb. 14, 1935.)

Petersen and the Dairy Club present an Open House for his relief sculptures at the Dairy Industry Building on May 10 as a feature of VEISHEA (an acronym for the five colleges of Iowa State College: Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture), an annual spring campus celebration (1922-2014).

Petersen and the Dean of Veterinary Medicine, Charles H. Stange, begin planning for the Veterinary Medicine Mural project.

1936  
A marriage license was granted to Christian Petersen and Charlotte Garvey in Cook County, Illinois, on November 16, 1936.  Christian is listed as 51 and Charlotte as 38. They were married that same day at 226 County Building (118 N Clark St.), Chicago, Illinois. 

On November 24 birth of daughter, Mary Charlotte at Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames.  She is recorded as a full-term caesarian birth, the only “born alive and living child” (0 is entered under “born alive and now dead” and “stillborn”).  Christian is 51 and a sculptor, Charlotte is 37 and a housewife.  Mary is recorded as “legitimate.”

Ames City Directory 1936 lists “Petersen Christian (Charlotte) artist ISC r N of Chem Bldg (Campus).”

Petersen advocates to be interviewed by the Chicago Park Board for a permanent park sculptor position. He partners with F.A. Cushing Smith for an unrealized swimming pool building design for the park system.

Raymond M. Hughes resigns as president of Iowa State College, to be succeeded by Charles Friley.

Petersen begins the long process of firing, correcting, and trimming forty-four terra cotta panels for the Veterinary Medicine Mural, not completed until 1938.

A new category of competition for sculpture is added at the Iowa State Fair, directed by Zenobia Ness. Petersen sculpts two portrait busts live during the Art Salon. Petersen’s portrait busts are the feature “Honor Row of Portraits” at the Iowa State Fair and the first public showing of the models of six mural panels sculpted by Petersen for Dairy Industry are exhibited. (Des Moines Tribune, Aug. 26, 1936; Iowa City Press-Citizen, Aug. 24, 1936.)

1937    
Petersen is named as an assistant professor at Iowa State College. (Sioux City Journal (Sioux City, Iowa), Jan. 15, 1937.)

At the Iowa State Fair, Petersen models and creates portrait busts of prominent Iowa citizens. Petersen also exhibits several portrait busts at the Fair along with the original cast of a terra cotta panel for one of the walls of the Veterinary Quadrangle. (The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), Aug. 24, 1937.)

December Ames Telephone Directory 1937 lists “Petersen Christian r 1221 Kellogg”

December, Petersen’s Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread sculpture is part of the five states exhibition for the Society of Liberal Arts at the Joslyn Memorial Museum, Omaha, Neb. (Ames Daily Tribune, Dec. 6, 1937.)

1938 
In an Ames Daily Tribune article, Petersen’s studio is listed as in Home Economics Building where he references the Gentle Doctor sculpture. (Ames Daily Tribune, Jan. 1, 1938.)

February 23, Petersen receives the commission for a plaque commemorating Frank L. McVey, president of the University of Kentucky. (The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), Feb. 23, 1938.)

In July, the sculpture competition for the Associated Press Building at Rockefeller Center, New York on the theme of “News” is announced. (The Art Digest, 1938-07-01: Vol 12 Iss 18.) Petersen submits a proposal. (Milepost (Ames, IA), Sept. 22, 1938.)

In August, Petersen once again demonstrates sculpting at the Iowa State Fair. (Greater Iowa, 1938; Des Moines Register, Aug. 9, 1938.)

December Ames Telephone Directory 1938 lists “Petersen Christian r 2324 Knapp.”

1939  
In the spring semester, male students are allowed into Petersen’s expanding sculpture class schedule for the first time at Iowa State College.

In August, Petersen once again demonstrates sculpting at the Iowa State Fair, creating a bust of Pulitzer Prize winner Frank Luther Mott. (Des Moines Register, Aug. 20, 1939; Greater Iowa, 1939.) Judges for the Iowa Art Salon at the fair included Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry.

Germany invades Poland, beginning World War II in Europe.

October 25, Petersen provides a sculpting demonstration at the Iowa State Teacher’s College, Ceder Falls. (The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), Oct. 22, 1939.)

1939-1941
Petersen begins series of sculptures on the theme of World War II including Old Woman in Prayer (The Refuge) and War (After the Blitz War).

1940s

1940 
April 5, 1042 Pritz Avenue, Dayton Ohio. Emma Petersen (Divorced, 51), Lawrence (27), and Helene (30) are living with Ruth (25), her husband (Wayne Sollenberger, 27), and their baby (Jane-Elinor, 1). Emma is not employed, Helene is still a clerk at the phone company, Lawrence is a telephone repairman, Ruth worked for 8 weeks as a salesperson in a retail department store, Wayne is a bus driver. A lodger, Hazel McGarr (34), a salesperson in a retail department store, also lives in the house. (U.S. Census)

May 9 (or possibly September 5, page says “5- 9-, 1940”), 2324 Knapp Street, Ames, Iowa. Christian is head of household (artist, state college, 55), Charlotte (housekeeper, 41), Mary (3), and Christian’s widowed father Peter (85).  Christian has an 8^th grade education (Charlotte reports two years of college), owns his own home valued at $2500, reports his income for 1939 as $1450, and that he worked 39 weeks that year. (U.S. Census)

November 1940 Ames Telephone Directory, Iowa State College Directory section lists his art studio as “Petersen Christian Old Vet Cl”

The four Maiden sculpture models are exhibited at the four-day Corn Festival / National Cornhusking Competition, Davenport, Iowa, in 1940 within the Iowa State College tent. (Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Oct. 26, 1940; The Daily Times (Davenport, Iowa), Oct. 29, 1940; Wallace’s Farmer and Iowa Homestead, Oct. 19, 1940.)

1941  
Petersen’s Fountain of the Four Seasons is unveiled at the Iowa State Memorial Union.

March, Petersen announced as a board member for Art Students, Inc. representing arts organizations in Ames and at Iowa State. The group plans on bringing exhibitions of well-known artists to Ames and hosting classes and trips. (Ames Daily Tribune, Mar. 1, 1941.)

May, the VEISHEA Central Committee gives $500 for the construction of a fountain in front of the Home Economics building, designed by Petersen. (Des Moines Tribune, May 30, 1941.)

December, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor: United States declares war against Japan beginning war in the Pacific and against Germany, joining the Allied effort in Europe.

1942 
January, Petersen addresses the Des Moines Art Forum at the Des Moines Art Center on reactions to war in art. (Des Moines Register, Jan. 20, 1942.)

April 27, Petersen’s WWII draft registration card. He was 57 years old, 6’1”, 195 lbs., light complexion, blonde hair, blue eyes, and he was employed by Iowa State College.

Petersen’s Marriage Ring is installed in front of the Home Economics Building. 

Mid-October – November, Ames Women’s Club’s annual Art Fair exhibition at the Ames Public Library includes ceramics and sculpture by Petersen. (Milepost (Ames, IA), Oct. 22, 1942.)

Iowa State College recognizes Petersen with a dinner in his honor and his first retrospective exhibition of fifty works of art Nov. 26 - Dec. 12 in the Memorial Union with long-time friend George E. Nerney invited to address the dinner guests. (Des Moines Tribune, Nov. 26, 1942; Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa), Nov. 23, 1942.)

1943
March, Petersen exhibits for two weeks at Hoyt Sherman Place in the Des Moines Women’s Club gallery. (Ames Daily Tribune, Feb. 6, 1943.)

November Ames Telephone Directory lists “Petersen Christian r 400 Ash.”

1944   
Petersen’s Library Boy and Girl are installed at the Iowa State College Library on either side of the stairwell leading from Breaking the Prairie up to Other Arts Follow mural designed by Grant Wood.

Price of Victory was created and installed in Gold Star Hall.

Petersen is named associate professor at Iowa State College.

Petersen’s mother-in-law, Ella Garvey, moves from Belvidere, Illinois to Ames.

1945   
January 8, Petersen is the featured speaker at the Rockford Art Association, Rockford, IL. He also modeled the head of a member from the audience. (Belvidere Daily Republican (Belvidere, Illinois), Jan. 8, 1945.)

March, Petersen is a judge for the Des Moines Women’s Club 37^th annual Art Exhibition along with Paul Manship, sculptor. (Des Moines Register, Mar. 14, 1945.)

May, World War II in Europe ends.

August, atomic bombing of Japan followed by Japanese surrender, ending war in the Pacific theater.

Petersen begins a long series of drawings for proposal for war memorials, including the first published reference of Christ with Bound Hands.

Late 1940s to Early 1950s

Petersen continues producing campus sculpture, along with teaching and carrying out numerous private commissions including religious sculpture.

1947-52   
Petersen sculpts Conversations (Oak-Elm Group), the sculpture languishes for years uninstalled in Petersen’s studio. In an article it is noted that Petersen plans a second wall “across the way” with primarily men to represent “Science with Practice”. (Lund, Jean (1947) "Christian Petersen Shapes 3-Ton Coeds," The Iowa Homemaker: Vol. 27 No. 3, Article 8; Des Moines Tribune, April 15, 1948; Des Moines Register, June 5, 1949.)

1949  
Petersen converts to Catholicism at age 64. Commenting on his conversion, Petersen said: "I had long been in the position of a man looking into a window—seeing my family and my friends in the glow of a great love and wanting to join them, and yet not knowing how until the light of grace dawned in my soul. Those who have been Catholics from infancy can scarcely realize the convert's peace and joy after his first confession and Holy Communion." (North Country Catholic, Oct. 23,1949; The Catholic Advance (Wichita, Kansas), Oct. 21, 1949.)

1950s

1950
April 13, listed at “west side of Dana” in Gilbert, Iowa. Christian is head of household (Art Professor, IA State College, 65), Charlotte (Housekeeper, 51), Mary (13). (U.S. Census)

1951  
Petersen designs and sculpts final bas relief, Agronomy Mural, for the Agronomy Building at Iowa State.

March, Hotel Sheldon Munn in Ames exhibits two works of art by Petersen, 4-H Calf and Cornhusker, along with other Iowa artists work for sale in its lobby. (Des Moines Register, March 4, 1951.)

1952   
December, for his final art competition, Petersen enters juried exhibition, Unknown Political Prisoner at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, with his plaster maquette sculpture Unknown Political Prisoner.  His entry was not juried into the following exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the Tate in London. Learn more

1953   
Mary Petersen enters Mount Carmel Convent in Dubuque, Iowa where she remained for ten years as part of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

1954
Petersen installs heroic 10-ton limestone St. Bernard sculpture in Dubuque, Iowa. (Des Moines Register, Sept. 15, 1954.)

1955  
Petersen retires from Iowa State College at age 70.

1955-57
Employed by J.W. “Bill” Fisher, Marshalltown, Iowa, where Petersen taught sculpture classes at the Central Iowa Art Association.

1956
Petersen’s sculpture is presented at the Memorial Union as part of the 3^rd Annual Applied Art Faculty exhibition. (Ames Daily Tribune, Feb. 17, 1956.)

Late 1950s
Petersen continues to create portraits and reliefs for private and public commissions. He also taught clay modeling to handicapped children twice a week as a volunteer at Smouse Opportunity School in Des Moines.

1958
July - August, Petersen has a one-man exhibition of 25 works of art at the Fisher Community Center, Marshalltown, Iowa, under the Central Iowa Art Association. (Ames Daily Tribune, July 29, 1958.)

July, Petersen has an exhibition at the Mason City Library, Mason City, Iowa. (Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa), Jan. 7, 1963.)

August, Petersen receives a “top award” for sculpture at the Laguna Beach Art Association show, Laguna Beach, CA. This sculpture entry was likely facilitated by friend Mrs. Roger Beemer of Wittier, CA formerly of Mason City whom Petersen sculpted in 1956. (Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa), Feb. 5, 1957; Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California), Aug. 10, 1958.)

1959 
January, Petersen elected an honorary associate member of the Iowa Architects Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. (Des Moines Register, Jan. 31, 1959.)

Petersen teaches one class a week at the Fisher Community Center, Marshalltown, IA. (Des Moines Tribune, Jan. 12, 1959; Iowa Architect, vol. VI no. 1, Jan-Feb. 1959.)

Petersen began the design for Dedication to the Future and suffered heart attack later that year. ("The Last Legacy of a Sculptor," The Iowan, vol. 9 no. 5, June-July 1961.)

American Artists magazine features an article on Petersen. (June 1959)

1960s

1961    
At the age of seventy-six, Petersen dies of cancer on April 4 in Ames, four days after inspecting and signing the last casting mold for his sculpture Dedication to the Future located at the Fisher Community Center in Marshalltown, Iowa. (Des Moines Tribune, Apr. 5, 1961; "The Last Legacy of a Sculptor," The Iowan, vol. 9 no. 5, June-July 1961; Des Moines Register, June 9, 1974; The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Feb.19, 1978.)

Iowa State University, under pressure from students, installs Conversations (Oak-Elm Group).

June 13, WOI-TV airs a special “Expedition Local” on the late Petersen. (Ames Daily Tribune, June 12, 1961; Des Moines Register, June 14, 1961.)

1962
In May, a booklet of Petersen’s contributions to sculpture by Geraldine Wilson with photographs by Louis A. Facto is released by Iowa State Press. (Ames Daily Tribune, May 3, 1962.)

1964   
Over 75 of the remaining works of art in the Petersen’s campus studio were offered for sale to the public on behalf of Charlotte Petersen by close friends. (Ames Daily Tribune, May 16, 1964; Des Moines Tribune, May 11,1964; Papers, SC, Box 5 f.17, lists of objects for sale in 1964.)

1968
In August, the recent acquisition of the Grant Wood bust by Christian Petersen on exhibition at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. (Des Moines Register, Aug. 25, 1968.)

1970s

1976   
The Henry J. Brunnier Galleries, now the Brunnier Art Museum, presented the exhibition Christian Petersen from May 8 through 30.

The College of Veterinary Medicine Complex was constructed and opened with Petersen’s relief mural, the Veterinary Medicine Mural moved to its courtyard. The terra cotta Gentle Doctor was placed inside the Scheman Building to stabilize its deteriorating conditions due to weather damage (this sculpture was later relocated indoors to the Small Animal Clinic, College of Veterinary Medicine). A bronze casting of Gentle Doctor was created and placed in the Veterinary Complex courtyard.

1972 
Charlotte Petersen donated to the Iowa State University Library a gift of documents, papers, photographs, small sculptures, drawings and memorabilia that established the Christian Petersen Papers/Archives in the Library’s Special Collections.

1980s

1980  
The Iowa State University’s College of Design established the annual Christian Petersen Design Award to honor staff, faculty, alumni, and friends of the University.

1981  
The artist’s son, Lawrence Christian Petersen, dies.

1982  
The Iowa Veterinary Medical Association celebrated its centennial year by commissioning a commemorative bronze medallion featuring the image of The Gentle Doctor by Petersen, international symbol of veterinary medicine. (Des Moines Register, Feb. 2, 1982.)

1985   
In May, Charlotte moved to a retirement home in Rockford, Illinois.

Charlotte and Mary sold a number of Petersen’s remaining sculptures and maquettes, as well as over 400 sketches and early photographs that had been stored since 1945. These objects are now in the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University.

On December 15, Charlotte Petersen dies.

1986  
Christian Petersen Remembered, a biography by Patricia Lounsbury Bliss, was published by Iowa State University Press.  (The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Nov. 21, 1986.)

The Brunnier Art Museum announces a program to inspect and conserve Petersen exterior sculptures on the Iowa State University campus.

1987    
Petersen’s Dairy Industry courtyard sculptures were accepted for the National Register of Historic Places on April 7.

October 8, the artist’s daughter, Ruth Eleanor Sollenberger, dies.

1988  
The exhibition Christian Petersen: Images of Youth was held in the Brunnier Art Museum from January through March.

1990s

1991   
The terra cotta Marriage Ring was moved inside MacKay Hall to prevent further weather damage, and a replica casting was created and placed on the original exterior pool.

1995   
Conservation completed of For Melke and Chese and Buttere and the fountain and History of Dairying Mural in the Food Sciences Courtyard, formerly Dairy Industry Building.

1997
Bronze casting of Gentle Doctor and the terra cotta Veterinary Medicine Mural conserved and rededicated at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

1998
Conservation completed on the Fountain of the Four Seasons, the Library Boy and Girl, and the following eleven small sculptures: Flood, Charlotte, Drought, Soon After the Flood, Price of Victory, Risen Christ, bronze casting of Gentle Doctor, Reverend W. Barlow, Mother and Child, Fallen Solider (Price of Victory), two Maidens and Dean Helen Benitez.

2000s

2000  
Conservation completed on the following studio sculptures: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Price of Victory, 4-H Calf, Cornhusker, Laura and Wallace, Francis McCray, Rose Schloss, Buffalo, Cowboy on A Cutting Horse, Library Boy (maquette), Library Girl (maquette), Christ with Bound Hands, George Washington Carver, Colonel Godson, Gentle Doctor (maquette), Charlotte and Mary (mold), Stephen Vincent Benet, Megan Norris and Murray Children.

The artist’s second major retrospective exhibition, Christian Petersen, Sculptor presented August 22-December 30, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums. A scholarship publication accompanied the exhibition with lead contribution by Dr. Lea Rosson DeLong, and other essays by Patricia Lounsbury Bliss, Charles E. Eldredge, Linda Merk Gould, Dana L. Michels, and Lynette L. Pohlman. Publication included the first Petersen catalogue raisonné.

George Gurney, Senior Curator for Sculpture, American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, visits the Christian Petersen, Sculptor exhibition.  His ‘discovery’ of Petersen’s art and career launches University Museums into further scholarship, conservation, and a bronze casting program of Petersen’s artistic legacy.

May 3, the artist’s eldest daughter, Helene, dies.

2001-2002
Iowa State University embarks on renovation historic Morrill Hall, which will become home of the Christian Petersen Art Museum and the Art on Campus Collection and Program.

2001-2010 
Christian Petersen, Sculptor exhibition toured Iowa museums as part of Iowa State’s outreach programs.

2001-2008   
Probably due to lack of financial resources at the time of creating many sculptures, Petersen sculpted projects to a painted plaster state, but did not execute the final state of bronze casts. Under the Bronze Casting Program, University Museums undertook limited edition bronze castings of: Cornhusker, Seated Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln (roundel), Country Doctor, Price of Victory, 4-H Calf, Veterinary Medicine Mural model, George Washington Carver, Men of Two Wars, and Library Boy and Girl.

The bronze casting projects preserved Petersen’s sculpture in an enduring material, and University Museums gifted Petersen’s sculptures to major American art museums to further integrate Petersen’s art into the lexicon of American art history.  Museums receiving Petersen’s sculptures include Smithsonian Institution American Art Museum; Brookgreen Gardens; Nelson Atkins Museum of Art; Weisman Museum of Art.  The casting projects were done at Polich Art Foundry, Rock Tavern, New York.

2001-ongoing
Search for additional objects into the Christian Petersen catalogue raisonné.

2007
March 22, on the occasion of Iowa State Sesquicentennial Celebration year (2007-2008), the Christian Petersen Art Museum opens as the third campus museum and becomes home to the Christian Petersen Art Collection and the Art on Campus Maquette Collection, as well as presenting changing exhibitions.  The museum was named in honor of Christian Petersen, the nation’s first permanent artist-in-residence, as inspiration for the Art on Campus Collection. The Christian Petersen Art Museum is the nation’s only campus art museum devoted to campus public art and Visual Literacy and Learning Program.

The inaugural exhibition of the Christian Petersen Art Museum at Morrill Hall, Christian Petersen: Urban Artist, 1900-34, was presented from March-August. The exhibition is accompanied by a scholarship publication by Dr. Lea Rosson DeLong and included an updated catalogue raisonné.

2008
October 3, the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden is dedicated, and surrounds Morrill Hall. Elizabeth was a former student of Christian Petersen’s in his applied art sculpting classes. Presenting permanent and loaned sculptures that rotate every two years, the Anderson Sculpture Garden inspires horticultural beauty with aesthetic objects near the beautiful Central Campus. Exhibitions feature significant national and international artists in the permanent Art on Campus Collection. Several bronze casts of Petersen’s works of art are semi-permanently installed in the garden.

2010   
After more than nineteen years of searching, University Museums and Dr. Lea Rosson Delong locate Petersen’s Panthers at Middlebury College, VT.  The Panthers were acquired, conserved, and installed near Petersen’s namesake museum and in the Anderson Sculpture Garden during the VEISHEA celebration April 21, 2012.

2024
University Museums releases the Christian Petersen Catalogue Raissoné online after years of scholarship and research.

Feb. 16, Mary Petersen, daughter of Christian and Charlotte, passes away in Beverly Hills, Florida at the age of 87.

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Additional chronologies focusing on different aspects of Petersen’s career can be found in Christian Petersen, Sculptor, by Lea Rosson DeLong, ISU Press, 2000; When Tillage Begins, Other Arts Follow: Grant Wood and Christian Petersen Murals by Lea Rosson DeLong, University Museums, 2006; Christian Petersen: Urban Artist, 1900-1934 by Lea Rosson DeLong, University Museums, 2007; All the Evils: Christian Petersen and the Art of War, by Lea Rosson DeLong, University Museums, 2009. Chronology from 1885 through 1985 also adapted from Christian Petersen Remembered by Patricia Lounsbury Bliss, Iowa State University Press, 1986.