Murray Children

Object NamePortrait Plaque and Mold

Artist / Maker Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)

Date1942

OriginUSA

MediumPlaster, painted

Dimensionsa = 17 3/4 x 25 x 1 1/4 in. (45.1 x 63.5 x 3.2 cm) b = 23 1/2 x 30 x 4 in. (59.7 x 76.2 x 10.2 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Alice (William) Murray. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM93.25ab

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: During his long career, Christian Petersen created hundreds of bas relief portraits. Widely recognized on campus for his talents in sculpting, he received private portrait commissions for the children of Iowa State College (now University) faculty and staff. This bas relief, created in plaster, depicts the three children of Dr. William and Mrs. Mildred Murray of Ames, Iowa. On this finished plaque, the children are arranged in a line, all facing left, with eldest son, David, on the far right, next to daughter, Jean, and youngest son, John. The patron, Dr. William Gordon “Bill” Murray (1903−1991), born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, began his career as a graduate assistant at Iowa State College, later working briefly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture before returning to Iowa State as an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics. He became Professor Emeritus in 1974 and received numerous honors, including an international award for distinguished service to agriculture (1957) and a Faculty Citation from the Iowa State University Alumni Association (1965). Murray is best remembered as the founder of Living History Farms, a 600-acre open-air museum in the Des Moines area that tells the story of Midwestern agriculture. In 1928, he married Mildred Furniss, and they had three children, including their daughter Jean, who later married Tom Sutherland, an ISU alumni held hostage in Lebanon from 1985 to 1991.

Markingsb: Christian Petersen signed on the lower right side.

Published ReferencesImage: Iowa Homemaker, vol. 22 no.5, 1942.

Locations