"In Memorium" This painting is dated after Armistice Day and the background is France. In this painting Peace is the central figure with the Sword of the Allies upon her lap. The Allies are clustered about Peace at the rear and at the left with their flags furled and their attitude that of obedience to order. America is represented on the right with the flag flying and soldiers advancing because America was only temporarily suspending action and is ready to respond to the urgency of war at a moments notice to go on to Berlin. The mother heart of America resists this, trying to detain the soldiers from continuing the war. In the lower right corner the chief sufferers of all wars, The Family, is shown, the little lad assuring his mother of his willingness to defend the family. On the extreme left the Iowa soldiers in action are shown in the conflict, with death mowing them down. The American Soldier was under arms as an enemy to the Central Powers until the Treaty of Peace between Germany and the United States in 1921." Quote comes from 1927 Bulletin of ISTC, The Library (1972.54.2)
The artist, Henry de Leftwich Dodge was born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1867 and was taught by his mother to be a painter at an early age. He moved to Paris shorty after his birth and spent his youth living between Paris and Munich. He tutored under Jean-Leon Gerome in the Ecoles des Beaux-Arts and won awards and medals for his work. He stayed in New York for most of his life and created artwork across the country. He died in 1935.
In Memorium was the first installed in the new library (Seerley Hall) which opened on May 2, 1911 and was commissioned by the Board just after the end of World War 1. In total, Dodge was commissioned to paint five murals for the Iowa State Teachers College, the first two being 40 feet in length and covering the walls on the end of the room.
Dodge was paid $5,000 for the first two murals and took six month to complete these in his New York studio. The University paid an additional 2,000 for shipping to the ISTC campus and they were installed by September of 1920.
