Kennedy Department of Justice Building: Curry Murals - Washington DC

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:: 1935
Completed:: 1937
Artist:: John Steuart Curry
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 Steuart Curry provided two oil on canvas lunettes, “Movement of the Population Westward” and “Law Versus Mob Rule, ” in 1937. Curry was key artist in the Regionalist movement of the time.

“‘Movement Westward’ captures the hardships faced by pioneer families as they ventured west in covered wagons. Here, the challenges of the trail force a balance between justice and social needs…. In ‘Law Versus Mob Violence’, Curry shows a desperate man fleeing from the lawless mob and taking refuge with constituted authority.” (DoJ 2009, p. 70)

The Curry murals are located on the fifth floor, south central elevator lobby.