DEATH CORNER MURAL
The Owl
“I am Death! Relentless and unsparing! I visit the cradle and take the smallest of humanity, leaving the mother to wail and mourn. The strongest of men are crushed beneath my blow. Neither the palace not the hovel are free from my hand. Fortune has no exemption from my mandate, nor does fame stay my coming. I strike where I like, when I please, and whom I desire. I have remained here that I might turn you (pointing to candidate) into lifeless clay. I have only to breathe upon you, and all that you are, or all that you hope to be, shall be gone. The work you have planned must go unfinished, and those whom you love shall hold you only as memory.” —Excerpt from MWA Initiation Ceremony Manual, 1915.
Read description for more details.DEATH CORNER MURAL
Ernest Hüpeden’s
Hüpeden’s history contained a bit of self-mythology. In one story, he claimed that he was wrongly imprisoned for embezzlement. The true embezzler confessed on his deathbed and Hüpeden was released from prison after seven years. We know from the ship’s passenger list that he came over at age 20, so it is very unlikely his embezzlement story has any truth. However it could be a reference to the mandatory military conscription. A second story referred to a wife and young son, but problems arose between he and his wife and father, so he had to leave. This may make more sense given his political views.
Read description for more details.MAYHEM MASQUERADE MURAL
Evil-Doers
In Hüpeden’s masquerade the Modern Woodmen are all enacting various evils that can happen to poor individuals prior to membership. In this case, all of the evil-doers depicted are wearing Prussian military uniforms. This has nothing to do with the Modern Woodmen, but everything to do with Hüpeden, because for him, the Prussian military regime was the worst evil in the world.
Read description for more details.DEATH CORNER MURAL
Skull
The theme of death is important in understanding the role of the M.W.A. in peoples’ lives. During the nineteenth century when the nation was focused on industry and growth, many families were concerned about the security of their future.
Read description for more details.FOREST PARABLE MURAL
Forest of Brotherly Love
“But when adversity comes, when sorrow blights, or distress wounds, how sweet the companionship of loving friends. Modern Woodmen of America is a forest of brotherly love. As individuals we differ as much as the trees in the forest. In religious beliefs and political affiliations, in mind and temperament, in physical strength and mental equipment we may be unalike, but together in a unity that challenges the world, this Society’s members stand in harmony and devotion to one another.”—Excerpt from M.W.A. Initiation Ceremony Manual, 1915
Read description for more details.MEETING THE WOODMEN MURAL
Woodmen Pledged
Here the fraternal society is gathered around the campfire, watched over by the Great Consul or Forest Patriarch. Sharing a cheerful warmth, neighborliness, a sense of well-being and care for their fraternal brothers the Woodmen have pledged to provide security for fellow member’s families should something happen to them.
Read description for more details.
West Wall
Death Corner Mural
Following the success of Ernest Hüpeden’s stage curtain, Valton Camp #6190 members invited him to continue painting. The group commissioned a series of murals following a loose narrative order that supports the initiation rituals, philosophy, and ideals of the Modern Woodmen of America. Beginning in the southwest corner a series of murals relating to the initiation ceremony, known as the Ceremony of Adoption, move up the West Wall and culminate with the largest image on the North Wall.
In the first mural, an injured man wearing a sling is being given a terrifying ride on a wild-eyed goat toward a dying tree, where an owl of death is perched on a branch above a skull and crossbones. Representing unpredictability (if not evil), the lodge goat was common to multiple fraternal orders. As part of the initiation, the blind-folded, hands-tied rollicking ride helped the candidate face his own mortality, and underscored the need to join the M.W.A. to be able to provide security for his family. A costumed Death figure also appeared in this corner during initiation in dialogue with the candidate and his sponsor.
The theme of death is important in understanding the role of the M.W.A. in peoples’ lives. During the nineteenth century when the nation was focused on industry and growth, many families were concerned about the security of their future.
Forest Parable Mural
Hüpeden next paints a great, towering pine forest on the West Wall–one waiting to be visited by those who will ‘tame’ it for civilization. The forest is described in the initiation ceremony as a shared dependence, a fraternity of nature that supports strength and weakness, large and small, the beautiful and the coarse. As the forest is a fraternity, a single tree is a melancholy figure, in the same way a man who is not part of the M.W.A. benefits from fraternal companionship and security. Membership provides not only the security of your peers, but also the provision of insurance and future care of your family by your fraternal colleagues. These lessons are extolled in front of this mural.
“But when adversity comes, when sorrow blights, or distress wounds, how sweet the companionship of loving friends. Modern Woodmen of America is a forest of brotherly love. As individuals we differ as much as the trees in the forest. In religious beliefs and political affiliations, in mind and temperament, in physical strength and mental equipment we may be unalike, but together in a unity that challenges the world, this Society’s members stand in harmony and devotion to one another.”
– Excerpt from M.W.A. Initiation Ceremony Manual, 1915
Mayhem Masquerade Mural
In the center mural on the West Wall, Ernest Hüpeden imagines a scene that reminded the potential member that he, as an individual who is not yet a member of the fraternal brotherhood of the Modern Woodmen, is alone in the world, and that he may be overtaken by evil at any time. In what appears to be a catastrophic environment, tree branches (widowmakers) are falling, and the initiate is being led to watch death and mayhem overtake others. If we are familiar with the Modern Woodmen we know that Hüpeden has created a metaphoric masquerade. Each of the evil-doers is wearing the simple piece of fabric with eye holes that is the standard mask worn by most of the Modern Woodmen during their secret ceremonies.
In Hüpeden’s masquerade the Modern Woodmen are all enacting various evils that can happen to poor individuals prior to membership. In this case, all of the evil-doers depicted are wearing Prussian military uniforms. This has nothing to do with the Modern Woodmen, but everything to do with Hüpeden, because for him, the Prussian military regime was the worst evil in the world.
Again, the mural reinforces the need to join the fraternal society to provide security for your family into the future.
Meeting the Woodmen Mural
In the final mural on the West Wall, the still aghast initiate is led past a couple skeletons into the shared security of the Modern Woodmen’s gathering. Here the fraternal society is gathered around the campfire, watched over by the Great Consul or Forest Patriarch. Sharing a cheerful warmth, neighborliness, a sense of well-being and care for their fraternal brothers the Woodmen have pledged to provide security for fellow member’s families should something happen to them.
The initiate is still quite aghast at what he has just seen but as he sees the Modern Woodmen, he is reassured about his decision to become a member and be eligible to purchase the life insurance policy. It is in front of this mural that the initiate would pledge his membership vows to become welcomed into the fraternal organization and be able to receive his ritual axe.
DEATH CORNER MURAL
The Owl
“I am Death! Relentless and unsparing! I visit the cradle and take the smallest of humanity, leaving the mother to wail and mourn. The strongest of men are crushed beneath my blow. Neither the palace not the hovel are free from my hand. Fortune has no exemption from my mandate, nor does fame stay my coming. I strike where I like, when I please, and whom I desire. I have remained here that I might turn you (pointing to candidate) into lifeless clay. I have only to breathe upon you, and all that you are, or all that you hope to be, shall be gone. The work you have planned must go unfinished, and those whom you love shall hold you only as memory.” —Excerpt from MWA Initiation Ceremony Manual, 1915.
Read description for more details.DEATH CORNER MURAL
Ernest Hüpeden’s
Hüpeden’s history contained a bit of self-mythology. In one story, he claimed that he was wrongly imprisoned for embezzlement. The true embezzler confessed on his deathbed and Hüpeden was released from prison after seven years. We know from the ship’s passenger list that he came over at age 20, so it is very unlikely his embezzlement story has any truth. However it could be a reference to the mandatory military conscription. A second story referred to a wife and young son, but problems arose between he and his wife and father, so he had to leave. This may make more sense given his political views.
Read description for more details.MAYHEM MASQUERADE MURAL
Evil-Doers
In Hüpeden’s masquerade the Modern Woodmen are all enacting various evils that can happen to poor individuals prior to membership. In this case, all of the evil-doers depicted are wearing Prussian military uniforms. This has nothing to do with the Modern Woodmen, but everything to do with Hüpeden, because for him, the Prussian military regime was the worst evil in the world.
Read description for more details.DEATH CORNER MURAL
Skull
The theme of death is important in understanding the role of the M.W.A. in peoples’ lives. During the nineteenth century when the nation was focused on industry and growth, many families were concerned about the security of their future.
Read description for more details.FOREST PARABLE MURAL
Forest of Brotherly Love
“But when adversity comes, when sorrow blights, or distress wounds, how sweet the companionship of loving friends. Modern Woodmen of America is a forest of brotherly love. As individuals we differ as much as the trees in the forest. In religious beliefs and political affiliations, in mind and temperament, in physical strength and mental equipment we may be unalike, but together in a unity that challenges the world, this Society’s members stand in harmony and devotion to one another.”—Excerpt from M.W.A. Initiation Ceremony Manual, 1915
Read description for more details.MEETING THE WOODMEN MURAL
Woodmen Pledged
Here the fraternal society is gathered around the campfire, watched over by the Great Consul or Forest Patriarch. Sharing a cheerful warmth, neighborliness, a sense of well-being and care for their fraternal brothers the Woodmen have pledged to provide security for fellow member’s families should something happen to them.
Read description for more details.
West Wall
Death Corner Mural
Following the success of Ernest Hüpeden’s stage curtain, Valton Camp #6190 members invited him to continue painting. The group commissioned a series of murals following a loose narrative order that supports the initiation rituals, philosophy, and ideals of the Modern Woodmen of America. Beginning in the southwest corner a series of murals relating to the initiation ceremony, known as the Ceremony of Adoption, move up the West Wall and culminate with the largest image on the North Wall.
In the first mural, an injured man wearing a sling is being given a terrifying ride on a wild-eyed goat toward a dying tree, where an owl of death is perched on a branch above a skull and crossbones. Representing unpredictability (if not evil), the lodge goat was common to multiple fraternal orders. As part of the initiation, the blind-folded, hands-tied rollicking ride helped the candidate face his own mortality, and underscored the need to join the M.W.A. to be able to provide security for his family. A costumed Death figure also appeared in this corner during initiation in dialogue with the candidate and his sponsor.
The theme of death is important in understanding the role of the M.W.A. in peoples’ lives. During the nineteenth century when the nation was focused on industry and growth, many families were concerned about the security of their future.
Forest Parable Mural
Hüpeden next paints a great, towering pine forest on the West Wall–one waiting to be visited by those who will ‘tame’ it for civilization. The forest is described in the initiation ceremony as a shared dependence, a fraternity of nature that supports strength and weakness, large and small, the beautiful and the coarse. As the forest is a fraternity, a single tree is a melancholy figure, in the same way a man who is not part of the M.W.A. benefits from fraternal companionship and security. Membership provides not only the security of your peers, but also the provision of insurance and future care of your family by your fraternal colleagues. These lessons are extolled in front of this mural.
“But when adversity comes, when sorrow blights, or distress wounds, how sweet the companionship of loving friends. Modern Woodmen of America is a forest of brotherly love. As individuals we differ as much as the trees in the forest. In religious beliefs and political affiliations, in mind and temperament, in physical strength and mental equipment we may be unalike, but together in a unity that challenges the world, this Society’s members stand in harmony and devotion to one another.”
– Excerpt from M.W.A. Initiation Ceremony Manual, 1915
Mayhem Masquerade Mural
In the center mural on the West Wall, Ernest Hüpeden imagines a scene that reminded the potential member that he, as an individual who is not yet a member of the fraternal brotherhood of the Modern Woodmen, is alone in the world, and that he may be overtaken by evil at any time. In what appears to be a catastrophic environment, tree branches (widowmakers) are falling, and the initiate is being led to watch death and mayhem overtake others. If we are familiar with the Modern Woodmen we know that Hüpeden has created a metaphoric masquerade. Each of the evil-doers is wearing the simple piece of fabric with eye holes that is the standard mask worn by most of the Modern Woodmen during their secret ceremonies.
In Hüpeden’s masquerade the Modern Woodmen are all enacting various evils that can happen to poor individuals prior to membership. In this case, all of the evil-doers depicted are wearing Prussian military uniforms. This has nothing to do with the Modern Woodmen, but everything to do with Hüpeden, because for him, the Prussian military regime was the worst evil in the world.
Again, the mural reinforces the need to join the fraternal society to provide security for your family into the future.
Meeting the Woodman Mural
In the final mural on the West wall, the still aghast initiate is led past a couple skeletons into the shared security of the Modern Woodmen’s gathering. Here the fraternal society is gathered around the campfire, watched over by the Great Consul or Forest Patriarch. Sharing a cheerful warmth, neighborliness, a sense of well-being and care for their fraternal brothers the Woodmen have pledged to provide security for fellow member’s families should something happen to them.
The initiate is still quite aghast at what he has just seen but as he sees the Modern Woodmen, he is reassured about his decision to become a member and be eligible to purchase the life insurance policy. It is in front of this mural that the initiate would pledge his membership vows to become welcomed into the fraternal organization and be able to receive his ritual axe.
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.
