Maurice Sterne was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sculptor and painter remembered today for his association with philanthropist Mabel Dodge Luhan

Mabel Dodge Luhan

Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan , née Ganson was a wealthy American patron of the arts. She is particularly associated with the Taos art colony.-Early life:...

, to whom he was married from 1916 to 1923. He began his career as a draftsman and painter, and critics noted the similarity of his work, in its volume and weight, to sculpture. A trip to Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 in 1908 introduced him to archaic Greek statues, inspiring him to experiment with the form himself in stone. He also traveled to Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

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

He was one of a dozen sculptors invited to compete in the Pioneer Woman

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 sunbonneted woman leading a child by the hand. It was donated to the State of Oklahoma by millionaire oilman E. W. Marland...

statue competition in 1927, which he failed to win.

Sterne died in 1957.