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Study for Justice Defeating Mob Violence by John Steuart Curry
Photo CreditCarol M. Highsmith Photography
Study for Justice Defeating Mob Violence
Photo CreditCarol M. Highsmith Photography

Study for Justice Defeating Mob Violence

Artist
Year1936
Classification painting
Dimensions21 x 31 inches
Credits New Deal Art Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location
  • Law Versus Mob Rule.  One of two lunette-shaped murals.  The mural depicts a central robed figure on the steps of a columned portico with a kneeling figure at his feet.  The theme is a fugitive fleeing from a lawless mob and about to receive the protection of constituted authority.  Behind the robed figure are uniformed soldiers and in front appears an angry mob of cowboys.  The fugitive is taking shelter from those who would take punishment into their own irresponsible hands, and who would substitute revenge for justice.  The composition is carried out with dramatic energy. The commission was for the two murals.


    Original assignment for the Department of Justice commission was to create a mural depicting freedom of the slaves and welcoming of the immigrants from Europe. Curry's original sketch was rejected. The committee changed the theme to "What Law has done for Man." Curry's completed mural depicts the haphazard meeting of justice in still unformed communities.


    In 1942, Curry created a mural for the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Law School based on the sketches for the rejected 1936 mural.