Arts: Grand Rapids

Every schoolboy knows that Grand Rapids, Mich., is the center of the furniture trade in the U. S. Few even of the élite know that Grand Rapids is also the center of thevanishing cognate art of woodcarving. In the Ryerson Public Library the Woodcarvers’ Association of Grand Rapids holds an annual exhibition, filled with the zeal of the medieval craftsmen. There are only about 1,000 hand-carvers in America, all told, and 157 of them are in Grand Rapids, though at one time they numbered there 375. The artists to whom the hand furniture industry gives employment are chiefly the Dutch, German and French. They work in all mediums—from redwood to Circassian walnut. They do not greatly resent the encroachments of the machine age, for they recognize its assistance to the craftsman. Machines rough out much of the work for the hand-carver to finish, and a composition of sawdust and glue is much used for the conventional work. The pieces displayed include every variety of ornamental and utilitarian furniture, from German altar pieces to Grandfather clocks and Chippendale suites. The chef-d’oeuvre is a basswood panel by Leopold Baillot, in a design of acanthus leaves and birds. Other famed wood-carvers are Kirchmayer and Davidson.