- State:
- WASHINGTON-DC
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA), Arts Programs, Federal & Military Operations, Treasury Department
- Started:
- 1936
- Completed:
- 1937
- Artist:
- John Ballator
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The New Deal is responsible for a magnificent array of artworks that embellish the Department of Justice building. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned artists to create 68 murals between 1936 and 1941 for $68,000, or one percent of the building cost. The building’s murals depict scenes of daily life from American history and allegories on the role of justice in American society.
John Ballator created a tempera on canvas mural, “Contemporary Justice and Man,” for the Justice Department in 1936-37.
“The artist’s composition suggests an ascending scale of values, with an ideally planned community (Greenbelt, Maryland) at the top. While some in the U.S. Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture were critical of the ‘wooden’ figures in the lower portion, Somerset Maugham, the English novelist and art critic, declared the mural to be the best of the artwork contained in the Justice and Post Office Buildings.” (DoJ 2009)
Ballator’s mural is located on the second floor lobby behind The Great Hall.
Source notes
U.S. Department of Justice, The Robert F. Kennedy Building: Celebrating Art and Architecture on the 75th Anniversary, 1934-2009, pp. p 32.
Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on March 14, 2014.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
At this Location:
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Jennewein Sculptural Elements - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Sterne Murals - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Curry Murals - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Biddle Frescoes - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Shimin Mural - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Bouché Mural - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Poor Frescoes - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Bisttram Mural - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice: Robinson Murals - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Completion - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Kroll Murals - Washington DC
- Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Jennewein Statues - Washington DC
View all sites at Department of Justice - Washington DC (13 Sites)
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Mary Ann Baker
Would like an explanation concerning”Contemporary Justice and Man” print.
I live in Greenbelt MD.
Ref: the new buildings and other back drop scenes .