Laning studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and at the Art Students League, New York, where his favorite teacher was Kenneth Hayes Miller. His other teachers included Max Weber, Boardman Robinson, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Sloan. His earliest recognition as an artist came in 1931 when he was invited to exhibit in the first annual exhibition of the Whitney Museum of American Art. His career as a muralist also began about that time. He worked for the W.P.A., producing murals for Ellis Island. The New York Public Library commissioned many works from him. He considered his best mural to be the one he did for the National Bank, Petersburg, Illinois. His easel paintings are in public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. During World War II he was artist-correspondent for Life magazine. He acted as recording secretary for the National Academy (***)
