Alois 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 in Bavaria, a town known for its excellence in wood carving. He was apprenticed to his cousin Andreas Lang around the age of 14, spent one year's study with the great wood sculptor Fortunato Galli in Florence, Italy, 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, he moved to westward and joined the American Seating Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, moving with the firm to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1927. Lang became known as an ecclesiastical wood-carver. An article in a 1946 newsletter states that "recently the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters presented him with a special award for his contribution to art in Michigan".
His carvings can be found in numerous buildings, mostly in churches, throughout the United States, including:
Peachtree Christian Church, Atlanta, Georgia First Congregational Church of La Grange, La Grange, Illinois Rockefeller Chapel, Chicago, Illinois Christ Church Cathedral, Springfield, Massachusetts (reredos, narthex portal and screen) Christ Church, Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Covenant Lutheran Church, Stoughton, Wisconsin (hand-carved altar with illustration patterned after Leonardo DaVinci's painting, "The Last Supper", originally installed in Central Lutheran Church, Stoughton, Wisconsin) Emmanuel Episcopal Church, La Grange, Illinois (Last Supper, reredos originally installed in Christchurch, Chicago, Illinois) National Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak, Michigan St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Grand Rapids Michigan Christ Church, Boston, Massachusetts All Saints Church, Pasadena, California Church of the Incarnation, Great Falls, Montana Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Lansing, Michigan Christ Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Illinois First (Park) Congregational Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan The Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Rockford, Illinois Wicker Park Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois Grosse Pointe Memorial Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan Christ Episcopal Cathedral, Salina, Kansas Hope Church (Reformed Church in America), Holland, Michigan Zion Evangelical United Church of Christ (Indianapolis, Indiana) St. Marcus Evangelical & Reformed (United Church of Christ) (St. Louis, Missouri) St. John's Episcopal Church, Detroit, Michigan Trinity Episcopal Church, Bay City, Michigan Central United Methodist Church, Detroit, Michigan. (Hughes 1967, www.centralumchurch.org) Sacred Heart Seminary; Detroit, Mi St. Matthew's - St. Joseph's Episcopal Church; Detroit, Mi High Street United Methodist Church (Springfield, Ohio) St. Mark's Episcopal Pro-Cathedral (Hastings, Nebraska) Union Avenue Christian Church (St. Louis, MO)
References
External links Hendry, Fay, L., Balthazar Korab, photographs, "Outdoor Sculpture of Kalamazoo", iota press, Okemos, Michigan 1980 Hughes, D. Dale. "Conscience of A City: The History of Central Methodist Church", Detroit, MI 1967. McMechan, Jervis Bell, "Christ Church Cranbrook: 1928 – 1978", Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 1979 American Seater newsletter, March 19, 1946 Ohnsman, Stephen, Pastor of Calvary UCC, 2013