Hey guys! I posted this on the Supporters side and thought I’d put a copy over here as well. Because knowing me, I’ll forget by the time the page pops up on the Main side…

The reference for the top panel of page 11, of Issue 9 is the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze. Part of the reason I chose this as a reference is because it’s iconic and easily recognizable. But, there’s another reason that’s kind of funny. It’s a story I heard in college about an artist named Grant Wood.

Grant Wood’s famous for the painting American Gothic. Now, Wood was commissioned to design some stained glass windows for the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids. He wanted glass makers in Munich to create the glass for the windows. The story goes that the Daughters of the American Revolution didn’t approve of Wood using glass manufactured outside of the States for a veterans memorial. It was unpatriotic.

(A little background for anyone not familiar with the DAR. The DAR is a lineage-based organization of women. To join, you have to a: be a woman and b: be a decedent of someone who fought in, or was involved in some way with, the American Revolutionary War.)

Wood, who didn’t approve of the DAR’s restrictions and elitism of the time, painted in response Daughters of the Revolution, an unfaltering portrait of three old biddies standing in front of the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.

I’m sure you’re thinking, so what? Aside from the fact they’re not good looking, how is this a slam? Ah, here’s the thing… the artist of Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze, was born in Germany, brought to America as a child, and then returned to Germany as a adult. So, one of the most iconic paintings of the American Revolution was painted by an artist who was not American. And, it’s that painting Wood chose to put in his.

I guess it could be seen as a reminder of sorts – it’s good to be proud of your heritage, but your heritage isn’t just restricted to those who were around at a certain time period.

Again, I’m not sure how true the story is, though it is true Wood didn’t like the DAR much. I just thought the story was funny and wanted to use Leutze’s painting as a reference if I could.

And no, I’m not eligible to join the DAR. Nor can I claim my ancestors came over on the Mayflower like many people around here do. My great-grandparents came over from Germany in 1902. *grin*

Oh, and Wood did get to build his windows with glass made in Munich. Unfortunately, those windows were destroyed in the massive flooding that hit Iowa last year.

“America is not like a blanket: one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.”
– Jesse Jackson