Exterior
Stage Curtain
West Wall
North Wall
East Wall
FUTURE PROSPECTS MURAL
The Banker
Valton never got a bank nor did the Modern Woodmen of America go into banking. However, within the ceremonies of the Modern Woodmen, the banker always stood in the middle of the room on the east side so it is in front of Hüpeden’s painted bank that the members of the Valton M.W.A. chapter would pay their monthly dues.
Read description for more details.FUTURE PROSPECTS MURAL
Good Spirits
Hüpeden painted for room and board and reciprocal exchange. For instance, if you gave him a pie he would return the pie plate painted. If you gave him a bottle he would return the bottle painted. If he stayed with you, he would most frequently create and gift one of his ‘farmstead paintings’ in thanks. In photos of objects that Hüpeden painted that were collected from people in the area, there are a number of bottles that appear to have been whiskey bottles that are painted with the symbols of the Modern Woodmen of America. We see the castle, the guy riding the goat, the M.W.A. logo, etc. Given the sense of reciprocity, it may have the Modern Woodmen themselves who were keeping Hüpeden in good spirits.
Read description for more details.LIFE INSURANCE MURAL
The Beetle, Axe, and Wedge
Three Modern Woodmen are seen cutting wood for the widowed woman, who stands in the cabin door while her young son watches the Woodmen working. They are using the traditional hand tools of the trade which are also the images in the M.W.A. logo: the beetle (wooden sledge hammer), the axe and the wedge.
Read description for more details.CIVILIZED FOREST MURAL
Tamed Forest
The East Wall ends with a mural of the bucolic, tamed forest to contrast with the uncivilized forest on the opposite West Wall. This forest has stumps, a large open meadow, second and third growth trees and shrubs, and many, many flowers. It has been civilized – made safe for the families of the M.W.A. members providing security for their families.
Read description for more details.
East Wall
Life Insurance Mural
Turning from the North Wall to the East Wall, the first mural is taken directly from an engraving at the top of the Modern Woodmen’s Life Insurance policy. The main benefit of joining the Modern Woodmen of America is the security that your fraternal brothers will take care of your widow and family in the case of your death, and the security of providing the life insurance benefit to your loved ones.
Three Modern Woodmen are seen cutting wood for the widowed woman, who stands in the cabin door while her young son watches the Woodmen working. They are using the traditional hand tools of the trade which are also the images in the M.W.A. logo: the beetle (wooden sledge hammer), the axe and the wedge.
One big difference between the insurance policy engraving and Hüpeden’s mural is that the mural shows the woman in the doorway holding a baby, while she is not in the original engraving.
Charles Gibeault, an original charter member, gave the money to build this camp on his own property. Thus, as a donor, he got to choose the password for the Valton chapter. He was expecting a child who was born before the building was completed. Oral history holds that he was insistent upon using his new son’s name, Royal Forest Gibeault, who is the baby depicted in the woman’s arms. Royal Forest became the password, and Hüpeden embedded the reminder into the mural.
Future Prospects Mural
Oral history also tells us that this center mural is Ernest Hüpeden’s vision of Valton 100 years in the future. He finished the murals in 1901, so he presents a vision of 2001. We see a thriving town that has grown greatly, though it’s a single point perspective down one street with no trees in sight! All the local businesses depicted were existing businesses in Valton at the time the mural was painted with several exceptions. He shows Charles Gibeaut’s Real Estate Office, the Lee Dry Goods store, the Gibbons Hotel where Hüpeden was frequently housed while he was painting, the Thomas Hardware Store as well as offices for (Mr. Horton and the constable.)
The prominently featured M.W.A. Bank of Valton is the first exception. With bankers hours painted in significantly large lettering on the front, Hüpeden provides a cutout so we peer into the bank. A woman in ‘widow’s weeds’ is collecting her very significant insurance benefit check, once again reinforcing the security provided by M.W.A. membership. Other interesting details are the painter’s inclusion of international currency exchanges rates from various points in Europe and across the United States which seems uncommon in a very small town. Although Valton never had a clock tower, there seems some significance to the time – both the clock tower and bank clock are at 2:35 pm while banking hours are ending at 3:00 pm. The widow is collecting her money from the paying teller; her next step is the cashier at the next window. It seems Hüpeden has a story here, but we cannot know what it might be.
Civilized Forest Mural
The East Wall ends with a mural of the bucolic, tamed forest to contrast with the uncivilized forest on the opposite West Wall. This forest has stumps, a large open meadow, second and third growth trees and shrubs, and many, many flowers. It has been civilized – made safe for the families of the M.W.A. members providing security for their families.
It finishes the circular narrative that Ernest Hüpeden painted serving the M.W.A by imagining scenes to accompany their initiation rituals and then showcasing the benefits of the shared community ideals of the organization.
Ernest Hüpeden remained in the area, painting many farmsteads and landscapes. A mural painted entirely on wooden wainscoting can be viewed on the stage area, up the steps in the foyer. It was painted for the interior offices of August Kriegel’s lumber company in La Farge, Wisconsin. Kriegel later moved the building, turning it into his home where the mural lived until after his death. Painted after the Painted Forest was completed, it was gifted by his grandson, Harold Dyer after the restoration of the Painted Forest in the early 1980s.
Ernest Hüpeden died of a heart attack January 8, 1911, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the Pine Valley Manor Cemetery, the former Pauper Cemetery of the Richland County Farm, just outside of Richland Center, WI.
FUTURE PROSPECTS MURAL
The Banker
Valton never got a bank nor did the Modern Woodmen of America go into banking. However, within the ceremonies of the Modern Woodmen, the banker always stood in the middle of the room on the east side so it is in front of Hüpeden’s painted bank that the members of the Valton M.W.A. chapter would pay their monthly dues.
Read description for more details.FUTURE PROSPECTS MURAL
Good Spirits
Hüpeden painted for room and board and reciprocal exchange. For instance, if you gave him a pie he would return the pie plate painted. If you gave him a bottle he would return the bottle painted. If he stayed with you, he would most frequently create and gift one of his ‘farmstead paintings’ in thanks. In photos of objects that Hüpeden painted that were collected from people in the area, there are a number of bottles that appear to have been whiskey bottles that are painted with the symbols of the Modern Woodmen of America. We see the castle, the guy riding the goat, the M.W.A. logo, etc. Given the sense of reciprocity, it may have the Modern Woodmen themselves who were keeping Hüpeden in good spirits.
Read description for more details.LIFE INSURANCE MURAL
The Beetle, Axe, and Wedge
Three Modern Woodmen are seen cutting wood for the widowed woman, who stands in the cabin door while her young son watches the Woodmen working. They are using the traditional hand tools of the trade which are also the images in the M.W.A. logo: the beetle (wooden sledge hammer), the axe and the wedge.
Read description for more details.CIVILIZED FOREST MURAL
Tamed Forest
The East Wall ends with a mural of the bucolic, tamed forest to contrast with the uncivilized forest on the opposite West Wall. This forest has stumps, a large open meadow, second and third growth trees and shrubs, and many, many flowers. It has been civilized – made safe for the families of the M.W.A. members providing security for their families.
Read description for more details.
East Wall
Life Insurance Mural
Turning from the North Wall to the East Wall, the first mural is taken directly from an engraving at the top of the Modern Woodmen’s Life Insurance policy. The main benefit of joining the Modern Woodmen of America is the security that your fraternal brothers will take care of your widow and family in the case of your death, and the security of providing the life insurance benefit to your loved ones.
Three Modern Woodmen are seen cutting wood for the widowed woman, who stands in the cabin door while her young son watches the Woodmen working. They are using the traditional hand tools of the trade which are also the images in the M.W.A. logo: the beetle (wooden sledge hammer), the axe and the wedge.
One big difference between the insurance policy engraving and Hüpeden’s mural is that the mural shows the woman in the doorway holding a baby, while she is not in the original engraving.
Charles Gibeault, an original charter member, gave the money to build this camp on his own property. Thus, as a donor, he got to choose the password for the Valton chapter. He was expecting a child who was born before the building was completed. Oral history holds that he was insistent upon using his new son’s name, Royal Forest Gibeault, who is the baby depicted in the woman’s arms. Royal Forest became the password, and Hüpeden embedded the reminder into the mural.
Future Prospects Mural
Oral history also tells us that this center mural is Ernest Hüpeden’s vision of Valton 100 years in the future. He finished the murals in 1901, so he presents a vision of 2001. We see a thriving town that has grown greatly, though it’s a single point perspective down one street with no trees in sight! All the local businesses depicted were existing businesses in Valton at the time the mural was painted with several exceptions. He shows Charles Gibeaut’s Real Estate Office, the Lee Dry Goods store, the Gibbons Hotel where Hüpeden was frequently housed while he was painting, the Thomas Hardware Store as well as offices for (Mr. Horton and the constable.)
The prominently featured M.W.A. Bank of Valton is the first exception. With bankers hours painted in significantly large lettering on the front, Hüpeden provides a cutout so we peer into the bank. A woman in ‘widow’s weeds’ is collecting her very significant insurance benefit check, once again reinforcing the security provided by M.W.A. membership. Other interesting details are the painter’s inclusion of international currency exchanges rates from various points in Europe and across the United States which seems uncommon in a very small town. Although Valton never had a clock tower, there seems some significance to the time – both the clock tower and bank clock are at 2:35 pm while banking hours are ending at 3:00 pm. The widow is collecting her money from the paying teller; her next step is the cashier at the next window. It seems Hüpeden has a story here, but we cannot know what it might be.
Civilized Forest Mural
The east wall ends with a mural of the bucolic, tamed forest to contrast with the uncivilized forest on the opposite West Wall. This forest has stumps, a large open meadow, second and third growth trees and shrubs, and many, many flowers. It has been civilized – made safe for the families of the M.W.A. members providing security for their families.
It finishes the circular narrative that Ernest Hüpeden painted serving the M.W.A by imagining scenes to accompany their initiation rituals and then showcasing the benefits of the shared community ideals of the organization.
Ernest Hüpeden remained in the area, painting many farmsteads and landscapes. A mural painted entirely on wooden wainscoting can be viewed on the stage area, up the steps in the foyer. It was painted for the interior offices of August Kriegel’s lumber company in La Farge, Wisconsin. Kriegel later moved the building, turning it into his home where the mural lived until after his death. Painted after the Painted Forest was completed, it was gifted by his grandson, Harold Dyer after the restoration of the
Painted Forest in the early 1980s.
Ernest Hüpeden died of a heart attack January 8, 1911, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the Pine Valley Manor Cemetery, the former Pauper Cemetery of the Richland County Farm, just outside of Richland Center, WI.
Ernest Hüpeden's Painted Forest Virtual Tour
Explore this remarkable artist-built environment by navigating through the walls above. Dig into the details by clicking and dragging the image, and learn more about each scene by clicking on the tooltips and reading the descriptions.
