Artwork Detail

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Foundations of the Law

Artist: Stewart, Albert

Object Date: 1956

Medium: Terra cotta

Imperial Dims: Overall: 192 x 180 x 36 in.

Department(s): Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Supervisorial District: 1

About the Artwork:

The three terra cotta figures by artist Albert Stewart over the Grand Avenue entrance of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse represent the legal traditions upon which America was founded: Mosaic Law, left, with Moses standing over a broken calf (the Judeo-Christian heritage); the Magna Carta, center, with a 13th century knight standing above a castle (English Common Law), and the Declaration of Independence, right, with Thomas Jefferson standing over a ship. The emphasis on clothing, which connects the ensemble most closely to the classical style, identifies each legal tradition. Gold-colored copies of Mosaic Law and Declaration of Independence flank the southern entrance of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, across the Mall. Information provided courtesy of Michael Several, Los Angeles, January 1998.

About the Artist:

Albert Stewart (1900–1965) was born in London and emigrated to the U.S. as a child with his family. He studied at the Beaux Arts Institute and the Art Student’s League in New York City, and served as an assistant to sculptors Frederick MacMonnies and Paul Manship before he began sculpting in the 1930s. Stewart taught sculpture at Scripps College in Claremont for 25 years. Notable works include figures on the Scottish Rites Temple on Wilshire Boulevard and on the exterior of the Life Science Building at UCLA.