St James the Elder by Vincenzo Mussner

The great room of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., lies beneath an impressive dome decorated to commemorate principal contributors to our civilization. One of these donors is Italy, named for her gifts in the field of fine arts. That tribute, well earned by 1897 when the building was completed, is even more appropriate today, because Italy’s boundary now encompasses the South Tirol, home to contemporary artists who carry on a long tradition of producing outstanding sculptures. A prominent member of this select group is master sculptor Vincenzo G. Mussner, creator of the magnificent St. James the Elder pictured on the cover of the July-August issue of Chip Chats.

Maestro Mussner is a native of Ortisei, the main town of the Val Gardena in the Dolomite mountains of northern Italy, a circumstance having two major implications that influenced his career. One of these is that woodcarving is, and for centuries has been, a principal occupation of the region. The tradition began in an era of desperation as a matter of survival. The Val Gardena is a remote region having long, severe winters and scarce farming resources, so the local populace was compelled to find an alternative way to earn the price of life’s necessities. Since wood was plentiful, the people naturally turned to carving as a source of supplemental income. This proved to be a very wise choice.

Most of Maestro Mussner’s sculptures are executed in wood, mainly linden (known as basswood in the U.S.), but pine (Pinus cembrus) may be employed for polychromed pieces, and occasionally harder woods, e.g., oak, walnut and chestnut, are used. Air-dried stock, with its natural consistency, is preferred over kiln-dried wood. When appropriate, as in the case of sculptures intended for use in an outside or rustic environment, his creations are designed for and cast in bronze. Since Roman Catholicism has deep roots and is a major influence in the South Tirol, he concentrates on work of a sacral character suitable for ecclesiastical end us. Vincenzo’s work encompasses both modern and traditional presentations, although customers’ desires make the latter dominant. Many of these pieces are life size, or nearly so, but smaller and larger creations are common. His largest sculpture is a statue of the Risen Christ, 17 feet tall, done for a church in Rimini, Italy.

This article, pictures of the carvings mentioned here, and MUCH more can be found in Chip Chats Volume 44, Issue #4.