Common themes of human relationships that emerge when one examines legal ethics education and the visual arts are the foci of this paper which examines parallel developments in community attitudes and sociological and psychological forces during different historical periods. Comparisons of the ideological evolution of the fine arts and legal ethics instruction are examined, particularly in view of the classicism of the Academicism movement, the nonrational and emotional voice of the Expressionist Movement, the disillusionment of Dadaism, the close simulation and literal replication of Photo-realism, and the more recent Cubist concern with holism and multiple viewpoints. Legal educators and scholars are portrayed as artists engaging in different artistic styles. Problems of developing ethics courses for law students are examined. The author contends that while legal education is overly preoccupied with skills training and techniques, aesthetic principles of the visual arts can be emphasized to enhance legal ethics instruction. For example, concepts of figure and ground, or positive and negative space, may illuminate the contrasting interplay of positive and negative aspects of legal dilemmas. The author concludes that while teaching expertise is important, to be a moral agent in any personal or professional setting requires the artist's imagination and the creative capacity to emphatically grab hold of the whole essence of ethical dilemmas. (LH)