Man's Struggle for Justice

Maurice Sterne spent four years painting the mural series Man’s Struggle for Justice, which comprises symbolically rich canvases that are sometimes difficult to decipher. In 1941, the twenty panels were installed in the library of the U.S. Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. Fellow artist George Biddle recommended Sterne for the commission in a 1933 proposal, which advocated that the government set aside funds to commission art for the new Post Office and the Department of Justice buildings. The Section of Painting and Sculpture, which resulted from this petition, was led by Edward Bruce, who studied under Maurice Sterne in 1922. Through these connections, Sterne was almost assured a commission at the Justice building.

Compared to other artists, Sterne was granted a high degree of freedom by the Section in determining the subject matter of his murals. In Man’s Struggle for Justice, Sterne depicted the positive aspects of justice and its obstacles through a series of symbolic—and at times, surreal—paintings. The panels include references to ancient Greece, echo early Christian and Medieval iconography, and combine timeless, allegorical figures with scenes of contemporary life. Sterne described his process as a search for “pictorial patterns of life, of human impulses and tendencies, of characteristics which, to my mind, are apt to interfere with an ideal function of Justice.” He also stated: “The meaning should be clear and direct but significant, dramatic, and above all beautiful.” The artist worked in a restrained color palette and frequently used symmetrical patterns in neighboring panels to visually unite the cycle.