Harvey Dunn 1950 Exhibition, De Smet

Harvey Dunn is a South Dakotan native born just south of Manchester in 1884.   His interest in art started at an early age and was nurtured by his mother and later his school teacher. In 1901 he started his art studies in art at South Dakota Agricultural College in Brookings (SDSU) with Ada B Caldwell and then with her encouragement, on to the Chicago Institute of Art in 1902.  Successful there he was guided towards Howard Pyle, a foremost illustrator of the time and Harvey studied under him for 2 years before opening his own studio in Tenafly New Jersey. 

Aubrey Sherwood, son of Carter P. Sherwood the editor of the De Smet News first came to know of Dunn as a boy through Dunn's bold illustrations in the Saturday Evening Post.  Sherwood followed Dunn's work on through Dunn's time as a war artist in 1918-19.  At the end of the war Sherwood found himself back in De Smet working for his father. Aubrey thought that it would be grand to have a famed local son as a special guest for the annual Kingsbury County Old Settler's Day and wrote to Dunn who accepted. This started a 25 year friendship for the two. Dunn became a regular summer visitor arriving for this June 10th celebration. Harvey's sister moved back to occupy their grandfather's homestead adding further incentive for Dunn to visit.   During these times he would head out to the countryside and sketch and upon returning to his studio in New Jersey he would turn these pencil and paper drawings into magnificent  oil paintings. In May of 1950 Sherwood, now editor of the De Smet News, visited Dunn at his home in NJ where Dunn displayed some of these paintings noting that he didn't think the people on the east coast saw much in these works.  Sherwood commented that the people of South Dakota would love to see them. Clearly this struck a chord with Dunn who instantly started planning for an exhibit of his works to take place in De Smet at the time of the Old Settler's Day celebration on June 10th. 

Dunn flew to South Dakota and inspected the Masonic Lodge in De Smet deciding that this is where the paintings would be displayed. He returned to Tenafly and gathered 42 framed paintings that were shipped to De Smet by train arriving in four large wooden boxes. Dunn then flew back to South Dakota and personally arranged the paintings with the aid of his sister. Though the exhibit was set to last just a few days it continued for 14 weeks as people continued to come and view the collection. Sherwood wrote in his HARVEY DUNN Master Mason 1964 manuscript that as the weeks went by he had come to realize that Mr Dunn hoped South Dakota could "provide hanging for these paintings". 

During the last week of the exhibit the president of South Dakota State College, Fred H. Leinbach came to visit and recognized the having such a collection would be a great contribution to South Dakota. He offered the walls of Pugsley Union for them. Harvey Dunn sat down and hand wrote an agreement for the gift to occur. 

Again quoting Sherwood's writings as indicated above:

"Before the removal of the paintings from the walls of the Temple a meeting of De Smet Lodge No. 55 was held. with Mr. Dunn. Mr. Leinbach and other members of the college faculty who were Masons in attendance, also Masons from neighboring lodges. It was an occasion to be remembered. The honored guest spoke briefly of his origin on a homestead 10 miles across the prairie, of his boyhood recollections of Manchester and De Smet and of the enjoyment he had felt in the many return visits over the years. He thanked the Loge for its hospitality through the summer, and the city and community for the courtesies shown him. 

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Three canvasses were left in De Smet, two of them pioneer painting, In Search of the Land of Milk and Honey and The Prairie Wife, given to the De Smet Library, and an illustration, Argument With The Sheepman, presented to Sherwood. This last piece hung in Sherwood's news office for years but was ultimately donated to the South Dakota Art Museum to join their growing collection.