Special to the PVT Edward Laning exercises his talent as a muralist in this photograph from the 1930s. RELATED STORIES Artist recreating Ellis Island mural PHOTO: LOOKING BACK... LITERALLY Advertisement

Edward Laning was a mural painter whose works are prominent in public buildings around the country.

He was born in 1906 in Petersburg, Ill., lived in New York City and died in 1981.

He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (1923-24) and the University of Chicago (1925-27) and also at the Art Students League with Max Weber, Boardman Robinson, John Sloan and Kenneth Hayes Miller (1927-30).

He was a member of the American Society of Painters Sculptors & Gravers. His works have been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago (1945), the Carnegie Institute (1945) and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (1944-45). His work can be viewed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New York Public Library, and the Richmond Professional Institute.

In addition, his works can be seen at U.S. post offices in Rockingham, N.C., and Bowling Green, Ky.

He was the author of "The Sketch Books of Reginald Marsh" and "Perspective for Artists."

He taught art at the Art Students League and the Kansas City Art Institute.