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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



May 25. 1918 



Wood Carving in Switzerland 



BY MARIE WIDMER 

 Editor's Note 



?ir pilgrimages abroad 



efined pos 



|HE ART OF WOODCARVING has for many 



centuries been cultivated in Switzerland to a 



certain degree, for what was more natural for 



people who lived in the midst of the inspiring grandeur 



of Europe's paradise than to feel a keen desire to create 



and decorate objects which were pleasing to the eye. 



At first the peasants of the mountainous regions tried 

 their hand at woodcarving during the long winter months; 

 it proved an agreeable pastime, and crude as many of 

 their products were, they nevertheless found a ready 

 market when the foreign visitors began to arrive in the 



spring and summer. Alpine flowers and animals, also 

 representations of chalets, were the first and natural sub- 

 jects chosen and they were executed with rare realistic 

 precision. With the gradual improvement in tools, the 

 amateur carvers were able to turn out more difficult and 

 more artistic objects and many a peasant whose meager 

 dairy farm could hardly yield enough for the support 

 of his family, began to resort to woodcarving as his prin- 

 cipal occupation. 



Woodcarving as a regular industry has had its seat in 

 the Bernese Oberland since the early part of the last 



SAMPLE OF SWISS WOOD CARVING. EVIDENTLY THE PEASANTS' IKH si hdli) OOODS ARE BEING SOLD AT 

 THE EXQUISITE DETAIL WOOD'CAin ING IS HERE TRLLl AN \KT 



^urnoN NO' 



