The Painting

Harvey Dunn worked on the painting for 10 years before it appeared on the cover of the American Legion Monthly in November 1928 accompanied by a poem by Albert Jay Cook. The painting was then given to South Dakota State College in 1929 and hung in the Art Department until more paintings by Dunn were given to the College in 1950.

Battleground
Harvey Dunn, 1928
oil on canvas; 51 X 67
The South Dakota Art Museum Collection
Gift of the Artist

The poem from American Legion Magazine, accompanying the painting, October, 1928.

by Albert Jay Cook

Armistice
No longer cleaves the ruthless sword,
And gone is war’s grim panoply.
Dead homes, dead men – and now, O Lord,
A moment’s rest
Besides the monument that we
have builded for ourselves, not thee.
The years shall dull our grief – and yet,
Though now the battle dust is lain,
Can we forte? Can we forget?
We need thee, Lord,
For thine the boon that tears of pain
Once shed shall not be shed again.