Maurice Sterne ( lv, Moriss Šterns, 1877 or 1878 – July 23, 1957), was an American sculptor and painter remembered today for his association with philanthropist

Mabel Dodge Luhan Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced ''LOO-hahn''; née Ganson; February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was a wealthy American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the Taos art colony. Early life Mabel Ganson was the heir ...

, to whom he was married from 1916 to 1923.

Biography

Sterne was born in Liepāja, Latvia, the youngest of five children to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

family living in the port city of Libau (now

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see #Names and toponymy, other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Planning Region, Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after R ...

), Latvia, when it was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. After Sterne's father died, his mother moved the rest of the family to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. In 1889 Sterne, his mother and sister were forced to leave Moscow, and sailed to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He began his career as a draftsman and painter, and critics noted the similarity of his work, in its volume and weight, to sculpture. In the late 1890s, Sterne studied under Alfred Maurer and

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

, and then traveled widely in Europe and the Far East. A trip to Greece in 1908 introduced him to

archaic Greek Archaic Greece was the period in Greek history lasting from circa 800 BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical period. In the archaic period, Greeks settled across the M ...

statues, inspiring him to experiment with the form himself in stone. From 1911 to 1914 he and his friend

Karli Sohn-Rethel Carl Ernst "Karli" Sohn-Rethel (1882 – 1966) German Modernist painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting art movement. He traveled often and was active in Düsseldorf, Munich, Rome, Positano, Paris, among other places. Sohn-Rethel was a me ...

, a German painter, traveled together to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

and settled in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

to paint and sketch, which further informed his later work. Sterne came to

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

in 1916 at the suggestion of his friend,

Paul Burlin Paul Burlin (September 10, 1886 – March 13, 1969) was an American modern and abstract expressionist painter. Childhood Paul Burlin was born Isadore Berlin to Jacob and Julia Berlin in 1886 in New York. The family name was originally Berlins ...

, and settled in

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colo ...

until 1918. His reputation was established by a show at the Scott and Fowles Gallery in 1926 and furthered by a retrospective at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 1933. In the mid-1930s, Sterne lived in San Francisco and taught at the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

. He returned to the East Coast in 1945 and established a studio in

Mount Kisco, New York Mount Kisco is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous municipality, coterminous with the vil ...

. He was named to the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

in 1938. From 1945 to 1950, he served on the

U.S. Commission of Fine Arts The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review (but not approval) authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction with ...

. In addition to his murals in the library of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Sterne's works are in the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

, and the

Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin ...

. Sterne was one of a dozen sculptors invited to compete in the ''

Pioneer Woman The ''Pioneer Woman'' monument is a bronze sculpture in Ponca City, Oklahoma, designed by Bryant Baker and dedicated on April 22, 1930. The statue is of a wikt:sunbonnet, sunbonneted woman leading a child by the hand. It was donated to the State ...

'' statue competition in 1927,''Exhibition of Models for a Monument to the Pioneer Woman'' at the Chicago Architectural Exhibition, East Galleries, Art Institute of Chicago, June 25 to August 1, 1927 which he failed to win. Sterne died in 1957 in

Artwork

File:Sterne Sitting Figure.jpg, ''Sitting Figure'', marble of 1932, in the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

File:Brooklyn Museum - Village Scene - Maurice Sterne - overall.jpg, ''Village Scene'' by Maurice Sterne, in the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

File:Brooklyn Museum - The Sacrifice - Maurice Sterne - overall.jpg, The Sacrifice - Maurice Sterne - in the

File:Maurice Sterne - Pueblo Indian - Apr 1923 Shadowland.jpg, Maurice Sterne - Pueblo Indian - Apr 1923 Shadowland File:Samuel Memorial Welcome.JPG, Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial, public art in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Notes

References

External links

''Sitting Figure'' at the National Gallery of Art
* Maurice Sterne Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sterne, Maurice 1878 births 1957 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 19th-century American sculptors American male sculptors Jewish American artists Latvian emigrants to the United States Burials at Kensico Cemetery 20th-century American male artists