Background
Language was born in Oberammergau in Bavaria, a town long known for its excellence in wood carving.
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Alois Language
Edit ProfileEducation
He was apprenticed to his cousin Andreas Language around the age of 14 and moved to the United States in 1890 at the age of 19.
Career
Language first found work in Boston carving elaborate mantelpieces for Back Bay families. In 1903, he moved westward and joined the American Seating Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, moving with the firm to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1927. Language became well known as a prominent 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 churches, throughout the United States including:
Rockefeller Chapel, Chicago, Illinois
Christ Church, Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
National Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak, Michigan
Christ Church, Boston, Massachusetts
All Saints Church, Pasadena, California
Church of the Incarnation, Great Falls, Montana
Grosse Pointe Memorial Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Christ Episcopal Cathedral, Salina, Kansas.
