The Grant Wood Window: Better Than Ever
Cedar Rapids, Iowa—The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (CRMA) is excited to present The Grant Wood Window: Better than Ever on Sunday, June 20 at 1:00 p.m.
Join Mike Jager, Director of the Veterans Memorial Commission, and a representative from Glass Heritage, Inc., of Davenport which undertook the window's restoration, as they share insights into the meticulous process of restoring Grant Wood's window for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Afterward, see the drawings Grant Wood made for this commission, on view in the second floor galleries in the exhibition
The Grant Wood Window: Drawings for the Veterans Memorial Stained Glass Window Commission. Details about this exhibition, set to open on Saturday, June 19 are below.
In conjunction with the reinstallation of the restored historic window designed by Grant Wood for the Veterans Memorial Building on May’s Island in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art will display for the first time the complete set of original drawings used for the fabrication of the window.
On permanent loan from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Commission, these actual sized drawings, when assembled, measure the same size as the window—a massive 24 feet high by 20 feet wide—making them Grant Wood’s largest drawing. Dominated by a female figure representing victory and accompanied by six soldiers, one from each of America’s wars, this 1928 project eventually took Wood and his drawings to Munich, Germany, to oversee the window’s fabrication. It was in Germany that Wood saw northern Renaissance paintings which had a profound effect on his painting, ultimately giving birth to his Regionalist style.
This exhibition is supported in part by the Richard D. Pinney Exhibition Fund and the Momentum Fund of The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation.
The Grant Wood Window: Drawings for the Veterans Memorial Stained Glass Window Commission will be on display through November 14, 2010. For more information, please visit www.crma.org or call 319.366.7503.
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The mission of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is to excite, engage and educate our community and visitors through our collection, exhibitions and programs. The Museum’s collection contains more than 5,600 works of art by hundreds of artists, including the world's largest collection of works by Grant Wood. For more information on exhibitions or related programs call the Museum at 319.366.7503 or visit the Museum's web site at www.crma.org. The CRMA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours and free general admission from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday. The CRMA is also open noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, but closed Monday and major holidays.