[Woodcarver] Who knows about older carvings?

[Joe Dillett]

Ivan, you're right about the Passion Play. I was there last year and it's a very big deal. The play begins in the afternoon. There is about a 2 hour dinner break and the play ends about 10:30 PM. I think it was about 6 hours total. We were in the new theatre. Only a few carvers were in the shops because most of them had some role in the play. It was clear the focus of the whole town was on the Passion Play. It was late September, just at the end of the season. The carving shops said that their inventory was low, and still there wasn't a empty space on any of the shelves. It seemed like there were still hundreds of carvings in every shop with may more stacked in the back rooms.

Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552

(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.net [business web site]
http://www.carvingmagazine.com ['Ask Joe' column]
http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett
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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ivan Whillock 
  To: [Woodcarver] 
  Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 10:11 AM
  Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Who knows about older carvings?


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  Often tracking down the origins of a wood carving is very difficult, especially with two initials and no date. There were hundreds of carvers in Germany with the initials AL.  There were (and are) several Alois Langs.  An Alois Lang is, in fact, working today.  But there are other Langs, too, hundreds in Oberammergau alone, some with other first names starting in A.  (There is an Alois Lang hotel in Oberammergau.)

  It seems we're speaking of two separate wood carvers by the name of Alois Lang, one of the Time cover, living in Oberammergau and another who moved to the US and carved for the American Seating Company.  They were born 20 years apart.  The "American immigrant" Alois Lang was born in 1872, died in 1952, the Oberammergau Alois Lang was born about 1892--since he was 38 at the writing of the 1930 Time article.

  Not only were there many wood carvers with the initials "A L,"   in visiting with carvers in Oberammergau, I recall that the issue of crediting could be further complicated by the fact that the master carver very often received the credit for all the output of the carvers in his shop.  Thus the name Lang is on lots of carvings, not only because the name is a common one, but also that the Lang shop had many carvers.  Further, carving from roughouts was common early on so it would be difficult to determine the originator of the design.--whether it was an original by the carver or was from a roughout.

  The "American" Alois Lang signed his work, "A. Lang" followed by the date.  I've seen photos of his work and was asked to appraise one (a job I turned down).    His works are numerous in the US, a major contributor to the carvings in Midwest churches.  During the building boom, from around 1900 up to through the 1950's there were a number of shops in the US that employed European carvers.  One was in LaCrosse Wisconsin near where I grew up.  Another was in Manitowoc, Wisconsin/Grand Rapids, Michigan, which employed Lang.

  As a sidelight, reflecting on the Time article, the Oberammergau carvers were much more likely to want to talk about their roles in the Passion Play than they were about their wood carving.  It was (is) a great deal to have a part in it and the actors grow their beards and long hair, prepare well in advance.  Some years ago I visited with a carver who had come to the US from Oberammergau to work in the LaCrosse shop..  When we sat down to chat, he brought out a thick photo album.  It didn't contain pictures of his carvings but photos from his participation in the Passion Play back when he lived in Oberammergau.  He proceeded to point out the many carvers and their roles in the passion play.  "So and so" he would say, "was a good carver but he is better known for his portrayal of Judas."


  Ivan Whillock Studio
  122 NE 1st Avenue
  Faribault, MN  55021
  Visit my website at
  http://www.whillock.com




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