Shirley Prouty is the great great-niece of the woodcarver, Johannes (John) Kirchmayer. Having promised her grandmother that she would write a book about her great great-uncle, she spent many years researching his life, family history, and artworks. Upon reviewing the news clippings that her grandmother had collected, she realized that the scope of the project would be broad. Her research really started in 1994 when her son visited Detroit and was directed to the Cranbrook Educational Community by the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Kirchmayer’s artworks are predominantly ecclesiastical wood carvings, though he also worked with stone and ivory. His work can be seen in many churches and cathedrals in the United States, with some further afield. Prouty’s research is published in her book, Johannes Kirchmayer, 1860-1930: master carver from Germany’s passion play village to America’s finest sanctuaries, which includes a biography of Kirchmayer and a detailed catalog of his work.

Johannes Baptist Kirchmayr was born in Oberammergau, Bavaria (now Germany), on March 31, 1860, to John Ev. Lang and Theresia Kirchmayr. Born out of wedlock, Lang acknowledged Johannes as his son, though he grew up in the household of his grandfather and thus assumed the Kirchmayr name. He adapted his name to John Kirchmayer upon his immigration into the United States, but retained Johannes for his artwork, which is identifiable by the inscription “IK” using the Latin spelling Iohannes. It was a common practice for Bavarian woodcarvers to leave their signature on their work. Kirchmayer had half-siblings from both lines of his parentage. In 1872, Theresia married Tobias Zwink and they had three children, one of which also became a wood carver, Adelbert Zwink. Kirchmayer’s father, John Lang, who later became the mayor of Oberammergau, also had subsequent children and his sons, Alois Lang and Anton (Andreas) Lang, became wood carvers.

Johannes’ early experiences in the village of Oberammergau were fundamental to the development of his artistic style and technique. Being famous for the Passion Play, in which many members of the Lang family participated, Oberammergau was the setting in which Kirchmayer learned the biblical stories and, through playing out the scenes of the play, he became familiar with the essential character and countenance of the saints that much inspired his work. He learned modeling in the Lang pottery shop and later excelled in drawing, but it was with his uncle, Georg Lang, that he learned his craft.

After spending time in Paris and London, Kirchmayer returned to Oberammergau; yet he found the village too small and he went in search of new experiences and opportunities. Kirchmayer emigrated to the USA in 1880, when he was twenty years old. His early employment was with furniture manufacturers, firstly, A. Kimbel and Sons, and then Herter Bros. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a period of great church building in the United States, initiated by the architect Henry Vaughn and championed by the prolific architect Ralph Adams Cram and his colleague Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Kirchmayer went on to work with these architects and to carve many magnificent interior artworks. He worked for some time with the firm Irving and Casson, and in 1905, he became a partner with W.F. Ross and Otis.T. Lockhart in the firm W.F. Ross & Co. Together with architects and allied craftsmen—stonemasons, stained glass artists, silversmiths and painters—the American Gothic style evolved. This style blended the traditions of old European craftsmen with the inspirations of the New World. In his later years, Kirchmayer worked as an independent artist from his studio in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kirchmayer was not only a master of his craft, he was a deeply religious man whose carvings were thus inspired.

Kirchmayer was well respected and loved by his colleagues and patrons. He was commissioned by George Gough Booth to complete works for Christ Church Cranbrook, Cranbrook House, and Brookside School, and they both shared a zeal for the Arts and Crafts Movement. Like Booth in Detroit, Kirchmayer was a founding member of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts (1897). He earned two awards, the American Federation of Arts Award in Industrial Art—Special Honor in Woodcarving (1916), and the Award of the Craftsmanship Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Woodcarving (1930).

Kirchmayer married Frances LeClair in 1904. Their adopted son, Francis John Kirchmayer, died of meningitis when he was aged two in February 1906. His wife, Frances, died in 1923, and in 1929, he married Bessie Caroline Burdette. Kirchmayer died on November 29, 1930, in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Arlington, Massachusetts.

1885-1886

Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock, VT

1888

St. James Church, New Bedford, MA

1890-1915

Church of St. Michael the Archangel, Providence, RI

1891

Millicent Library, Fairhaven, MA

1891

Hill House, St. Paul, MN

1894

Church of the Advent, Boston, MA

1894

St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH

1895

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York, NY

1896

Unity Church, North Easton, MA

1898

The Parish Church of Our Saviour, Middleborough, MA

1898

All Saints’ Church, Dorchester, MA

1899

Bubbles of glory, Hiawatha, panels (location unknown)

1900

Groton School, Groton, MA

circa 1900

Homestead, 79 Crescent Hill Avenue, Arlington, MA

St. Luke the Beloved Physician Chapel, Loomis Sanatorium, NY

1902

All Saints’ Church, Great Neck, NY

1903

The Memorial Church, Fairhaven, MA

1904

St. Mary’s Church, Walkerville, ON

1905

Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, PA

1906

Christ Church, New Haven, CT

1907

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Quincy, IL

1908

All Saints’ Church, Worcester, MA

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chicago, IL [destroyed by fire, 1950s]

Newman School, Hackensack, NJ

1908-1916

Second Congregational Church, West Newton, MA

circa 1908

Memorial tablet, Edward Benedict (location unknown)

Madonna, Newman School (location unverifiable, school now gone)

Prie-Dieu (location unverifiable)

Frieze mirror surrounds, arch. Clipton Sturgis (location unverifiable)

1909

The Parish Church of St. Luke, Evanston, IL

St. Catherine’s of Siena, Norwood, MA

Christ Church Cathedral, Springfield, MA

circa 1909

Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Methuen, MA

Presentation of Mary Academy (Searles Castle), Methuen, MA

1910

Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Rochester, NY

St. Stephen’s Church, Geneva, NY

1910-1915

St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Minneapolis, MN

1910-1917

Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Jamaica Plain, MA (now closed)

1911

Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Walpole, MA

Church of the Sacred Heart, Taunton, MA

St. Paul’s Cathedral, Detroit, MI

1912

Trinity Church, Columbus, OH

1912-1916

Aldophus Busch Hall, Cambridge, MA

circa 1912

St. Anthony and the Holy Child (private collection)

Sculptured Throne, carved for Gate of Heaven Church, South Boston, MA (location unknown)

1913

US Military Academy, West Point NY

Cathedral Church of St. James, Chicago, IL

Diocese of Rhode Island, Providence, RI

Church of Our Saviour, Syracuse NY

circa 1913

Church of St. John the Evangelist, Newport, RI

American Church, Manila, Philippines

Head of Washington, Lincoln, and Philip Brooks (location unknown)

Childhood, sweet sixteen panel heads (location unknown)

1914

Cover of Book of Common Prayer

St. Elizabeth’s Chapel, Sudbury, MA

House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, MN

Church of the Intercession, Harlem, NY

St. Luke’s, Evanston, IL

1915

Larz Anderson Bridge, Cambridge to Boston, MA

Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Crib, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Our Lady of Hope, West Barnstaple, MA

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookings, SD

1916

Altar Book Cover, St. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia, PA

Our Lady of the Assumption, Osterville, MA

1917

St. Michael’s Church, Milton, MA

Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, UT

circa 1917

Tryptich, Salt Lake City (location unverifiable)

1918

Emmanuel Church, Baltimore, MD

Altarpiece, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI

Organ screen, Boston (location unverifiable)

Cranbrook House, Bloomfield Hills, MI

circa 1918

Madonna (location unknown)

Reredos, arch. Joseph Untersee (location unverifiable)

1919

Cranbrook Academy of Arts, Bloomfield Hills, MI

1920

Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, MA

St. Catherine of Genoa Church, Somerville, MA

1921

St. Vincent Ferrer Church, New York, NY

1922

Symphony in Heaven, oak tableau (location unknown)

circa 1924

Meeting through the Mist (location unknown)

A Madonna and Child, two adoring monks (location unknown)

St. Frances de Sales, Charlestown, MA

1925-1928

Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, MI

1925

St. Luke’s Cathedral, Portland, ME

circa 1925

Ralph Adams Cram, portrayed in wood (location unknown)

Figure of Saint John the Baptist, carved for the National Cathedral (location unknown)

1926

All Saints’ Church Peterborough, NH

circa 1926

All Saints’ Episcopal Parish, Brookline MA

circa 1927

American Gothic, French Gothic saint (location unknown)

1928

Detroit News International Trophy (location unknown)

circa 1928

Self-portrait of I. Kirchmayer (location unknown)

Motherhood (location unknown)

Ralph Adams Cram, expounding his faith (location unknown)

1929

Sulpician Seminary, Washington, DC

Christ the King Church, Littleton, NH

St. John the Evangelist, Newport, RI

Christ the King, Bethlehem, NH (now closed)

Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul (National Cathedral), Washington, DC

1930

Trinity Lutheran Church, Detroit

undated

Huge illuminated chest, Christmas gift to wife (location unknown)

Behold the Lamb wood panel (location unknown)

Carving, First Church, Boston (location unverifiable)

St. Mary’s Convent, Brighton, MA (location unverifiable)

Victor Lawrence House, Chicago (location unverifiable)

Women’s Republican Club, Jordan House, Boston (location unverifiable)

Carved walnut library ceiling, interview with Andrew Dreselly (location unverifiable)

Architectural carving, Ditson Building, Douglass Shand Tucci, (1978) ‘Built in Boston’