Washington Prevents a Military Dictatorship (from the Bicentennial Pageant of George Washington portfolio)

Albert Edward Sterner

This etching, 'Washington Prevents a Military Dictatorship', was the fourteenth of twenty etchings included in the 1932 Bicentennial Pageant of George Washington, (also called "The Life of George Washington") and was edited by John Taylor Arms in 1932; printed in England by Henry E. Carling on laid paper with watermarks "GW" (George Washington's monogram) and an eagle and shield coat of arms handmade at Head Mill, Maidstone, England. It was published by the American Art Foundation in an edition of 1000 (plus 20 artists' proofs).

The marketing for the portfolio read: "The American Art Foundation has the honor to announce Twenty Masterpieces in Etching each executed by one of America's most distinguished artists."

Originally commissioned by private investors, each artist was asked to complete a piece relating to George Washington, his private and public life. The respective artist signed each print in the portfolio at the time of issue, and the entire set bears those original signatures.

Included among the artists represented are: William Auerbach-Levy, Ralph Boyer, Samuel V. Chamberlain, Kerr Eby, Sears Gallagher, Childe Hassam, Arthur William Heintzelman, Eugene Higgins, Earl Horter, Robert Lawson, Allen Lewis, F. Luis Mora, Robert H. Nisbet, Louis C. Rosenberg, Ernest David Roth, Albert Sterner, Walter Tittle, Levon West, J.W. Winkler, and George Wright.

George Washington argued vehemently against a military dictatorship, emphasizing the importance of civilian control over the military, the principles of liberty enshrined in the American Revolution, and the potential for tyranny when unchecked power resides within the armed forces; he most likely cited his actions at the Newburgh Conspiracy as a testament to his commitment to a democratic republic, where power is derived from the people, not the military.

Sterner was born in London in March 1863 to an American father and an English mother, who named her son after the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. His family moved to Brussels for eleven years and then returned to England and settled in Birmingham, where Sterner was enrolled at King Edward’s School. Because of his aptitude for drawing, in 1875 he was also sent to take art classes at the Birmingham Art Institute. When his family moved to Chicago, Sterner began working in 1879 for a number of lithography and engraving companies as well as for the theatre scene painter, Walter Burridge. He also produced his first illustrations for the stories of Harry B. Smith published in the weekly serial, the Rambler.

In 1883, Sterner moved to New York City where he did illustrations for Life, Harper’s, Scribener's, Collier's, and Century magazines. However, realizing that he needed more technical training, he left for Paris and enrolled at the Académie Julien in Paris where he studied under Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and at the École des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme. Sterner moved back to New York City in 1885 and opened a studio, though he would frequently return to Paris throughout his life and in 1891 his painting, "Le Célibataire", was accepted in the Paris Salon, where it received an honorable mention. His first public exhibition was at Keppel’s Gallery in New York, where he showed paintings, watercolors, and the series of drawings for Prue and I.

Albert Sterner died in Astoria, New York on December 16, 1946.