Grant Wood, Veterans Memorial Window, 1929. The bid to fabricate the glass for Wood’s ambitious window was awarded to the Emil Frei art glass company in St. Louis. However, due to the intricate detail of Wood’s design, the glass ultimately had to be manufactured in Munich, Germany. Wood traveled to Munich to supervise production; while there, he encountered the work of late medieval artists, eventually producing his best-known painting, American Gothic, as a result. However, the Daughters of American Revolution accused Wood of being unpatriotic for allowing a German firm to manufacture materials for a U.S. veterans memorial so soon after World War I. Due to the controversy, the work was not dedicated publicly until its restoration was completed in 2010 following the flooding of 2008. Image courtesy of the Veterans Memorial Commission, Cedar Rapids.

Grant Wood, Veterans Memorial Window, 1929. The bid to fabricate the glass for Wood’s ambitious window was awarded to the Emil Frei art glass company in St. Louis. However, due to the intricate detail of Wood’s design, the glass ultimately had to be manufactured in Munich, Germany. Wood traveled to Munich to supervise production; while there, he encountered the work of late medieval artists, eventually producing his best-known painting, American Gothic, as a result. However, the Daughters of American Revolution accused Wood of being unpatriotic for allowing a German firm to manufacture materials for a U.S. veterans memorial so soon after World War I. Due to the controversy, the work was not dedicated publicly until its restoration was completed in 2010 following the flooding of 2008. Image courtesy of the Veterans Memorial Commission, Cedar Rapids.