Alois
Lang, Master Woodcarver
by
Tim Gleisner
Wednesday,
February 20 – 7:00 p.m.
Library
of Michigan – 702 W. Kalamazoo
Tim Gleisner, Head of
Special Collections at the Library of Michigan, will be discussing the life and
work of master woodcarver Alois Lang. Lang (1872-1954) was a Master Woodcarver
at the American Seating Company and
one of the artists responsible for bringing the medieval art of ecclesiastical
carving to life in the United States.
Lang was born in
Oberammergau, Bavaria, a town long
known for its excellence in wood carving. He was apprenticed to his cousin
Andreas Lang around the age of 14 and moved to the United States in 1890 at the
age of 19. Lang first found work in Boston carving elaborate mantelpieces for
Back Bay families. In 1903, Lang moved westward and joined the American Seating Company of Manitowoc,
Wisconsin, moving with the firm to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1927. There Lang became well known as a prominent ecclesiastical woodcarver. In 1946 the Michigan Academy of
Science, Arts, and Letters
presented him with a special award for his contribution to art in Michigan.
Lang’s
carvings can be seen in the following churches in Michigan: Christ Church,
Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills; National Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak; Saint
Paul’s Episcopal Church, Lansing; First (Park) Congregational Church, Grand
Rapids; Grosse Pointe Memorial Church, Grosse Pointe; and Hope Church (Reformed
Church in America), Holland.
Outside
of Michigan, Lang’s work is represented at: Rockefeller Chapel and Wicker Park
Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois; Christ Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Illinois;
The Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Rockford, Illinois; Christ Episcopal Cathedral,
Salina, Kansas; Christ Church, Boston, Massachusetts; Church of the Incarnation,
Great Falls, Montana; and All Saints Church, Pasadena, California.
Tim Gleisner has been
Head of Special Collections of the Library of Michigan for the last year.
Before that he worked as Head of Special Collections at the Grand Rapids Public
Library for 12 years. During that time Tim became acquainted with Alois Lang
and the furniture industry in Grand Rapids and West Michigan. Tim’s talk will
delve into how master artists like Lang helped to create an image for the
furniture industry of Michigan. Discover how this master woodcarver not only
changed the religious art here in Lansing, but in Michigan as a whole.
