Personal Stories

by Peggy Bearce, March 22, 2010

My first husband purchased my Warner Sallman picture of Christ for me when I was 15 years old in 1972 at a flea market. I have had it displayed at the focal point of every residence I have lived since that time. It now hangs above my fireplace and is one of the first things people notice when they enter my home. To me the portrait symbolizes all the great blessings God has bestoyed upon me in life, continual protection, and a constant reminder that Jesus is the head of my surroundings and life.

by Jennifer Stanley, Feb. 23, 2010

My Sallman goes back to my early childhood. Growing up, my sister, brother, and I only had to walk into the hall of our house to find Jesus. Our mother loved the picture of the Head of Christ. Every time we moved, the picture went with us and hung once again in the hall. Over the course of time, the picture aged and began to fall apart. The picture did not make the final move to Mom’s new house. On January 4, 2010, Mom passed away. At the funeral home we were looking at the various prayer cards. My brother said, “Well, there is Jesus down the hall.” My sister began to laugh, but I did not get the joke. My brother and sister had given the picture the name, “Jesus down the hall.” We chose that for the cards. The day of the visitation at the funeral home, I went early to drop some items off and walked into the room, and hanging there above my mother was the picture she so dearly loved, the Head of Christ, or “Jesus down the Hall.” The comfort the picture provided was amazing.

by Ron Rice, Feb. 23, 2010

Our family, from Philadelphia, have always enjoyed the paintings of Warner Sallman. So, when this experience happened to me in 2000 I was thrilled: While attending a men’s Bible study in Sarasota, Florida, a man approached me after the study ended. He handed the famous Head of Christ pocket-sized photo to me and said, “My father painted this.” I was speechless, as I had met the son of Warner, Jim Sallman. This was a special moment in time for me.

by Carol Kable, Feb. 8, 2010

The Lutheran church I grew up has the painting Christ at Heart’s Door in a prominent place in the foyer of their fellowship hall. It’s been there for about 50 years. I remember when I was a child the minister explaining the story and pointing out that there was no doorknob, since Jesus would not come in to your heart uninvited. As an artist and Christian today I will always remember this painting. I came to have a personal relationship with the Lord in college, and I can attribute it to the early experiences, like this painting, that planted seeds in my life.

by Karen Jensen Markowsky, Jan. 6, 2010

I have wonderful memories of the very large original painting Head of Christ, as it was prominently hung in the sanctuary (above where the choir was seated) of the church that my family attended when I was growing up in the 1950’s and ’60s (Edgewater Covenant, at the corner of Bryn Mawr & Glenwood Avenues in Chicago, in what was at that time a Swedish neighborhood). It was so nice to be able to gaze up at that beautiful painting during the Sunday services!

Warner Sallman was a member of our congregation, and as I recall, every Easter he would make a beautiful chalk drawing in front of the congregation, surrounded by potted Easter lilies, while we listened to a lovely presentation of spiritual music.

One year when I was little, Mr. Sallman personally presented each of us children in the Sunday School of our church with a beautifully framed copy of one of his paintings. I was very honored to shake his hand when he gave me the painting, which I still have and treasure to this day.