The Ore Mountains are situated on both sides of the German-Czech border. People of German origin have lived there on both sides of the national borders for hundreds of years. Historically there have been many kinds of social relations and connections across the border, such as family ties, friendships and trade partnerships. Since 1945 the demography of those residents on the Czech side have changed. Most Czech Germans were expelled and other people with different national backgrounds moved into the abandoned towns and villages. The Czech part is inhabited by people with far less long term commitment to the region. As the mayor of the Czech village Vejperty said: “The people here are searching for the most prosperous place. As soon as they find a chance to earn money somewhere else they move on.”

In the German part of the Ore Mountains people´s lives stand in stark contrast to such nomadism. Residents feel strongly connected to the region and are proud of their regional history. Some years ago during a vacation I met some “Erzgebirgler” students and was surprised at their deeply rooted regional identity: Even those young male students put traditional chandeliers into their windows during Christmas time to mark the traditions of the region…

So I wondered: How open-minded is traditional folk art and craft to contemporary forms?

In the 18^th century mine workers started making wooden products in their homes in order to earn extra money. To a certain extent this was necessitated by the decrease in the mining sector. “The …industry of the Erzgebirge was a typical proto-industrial domestic industry based on the technologies of wood turning and carving.”¹

They constructed wooden figures and decorative items for Christmas decoration, such as Christmas pyramids, candle arches, special candle holders to put on the windowsill, “smoking men”, nutcrackers, cribs or children’s toys. All members of the family would join in the making of these figures.

More and more it changed from a subsidiary activity to a very lucrative and profitable source of income, which was promoted as typical Ore Mountains folk art. A true cottage industry was established and it became a prosperous branch of trade. During the era of the GDR the wooden art craft was a major export item to the West. Some companies were still in private ownership, others were partly nationalized. Those exceptions were made because of the advantage of the access to Western money. The state policy of production quotas led to the increasing scarcity of these wooden goods until eventually they were only produced for export. All this time, the inhabitants of the GDR had never seen one single product in their shops. After 1989 that caused a big rush on those goods on the inland trade market.

The registered association of art craft and toy producers of the Ore Mountains was established in 1990 as a voluntary umbrella organization. It has 70 members, from small family-run companies and medium-sized enterprises of around 200 workers, to a big co-operative, which brings together 150 craft business.

Today this “Erzgebirge” woodcraft is one of the region’s principal craft products and a major element in the region’s tourism promotion. Each year the cold climate ensures a white Christmas, during which time the landscape is illuminated by thousands of traditional candle holders: as Christmas pyramids measuring 4 metres stand in the village squares. The windows of the region’s houses are adorned with wooden figurines depicting mine workers, angels and the so called ‘Schwibbogen’, a candle holder that is semicircular to commemorate the shape of the entrance to the mineshafts, so important to the area’s history. The seven lights above represent the miner’s working week. Every local I spoke to assured me of the fact that they owned as many light arches as their houses had windows.

The traditional pyramid consists of two or more plateaus, being turned around by the warm air of four candles. Little wooden figures representing the story of the birth of Jesus are placed on it. The custom is to place it in the house during Christmas time.

At one time potential customer at the “Zeidler” company asked for a new variation of the light pyramid, proposing a design for the celebration of the summer season. Thus a new design was created: a flower shaped pyramid in combination with a “smoking fisherman” producing the scent of summer blossoms. The first reaction of the traditional Ore Mountain Association was reluctant but the new design proved a success. This stands as an example of how the market can broaden the vision of traditional handicrafts.

The so called “smoking men” are decorative wooden holders for cone incense to spread the smell throughout the house during the four weeks at the end of the year.

Most of the “Räuchermänner” are male and represent working professions. In the beginning mostly mineworkers were displayed but nowadays one can find many kinds of professions, such as doctors, lawyers, postmen or even computer technicians. Hobbies such as Nordic walking and tennis are also represented in this craft.

Inspired by the attacks of 9/11 a fireman holding the American flag was produced especially for the American market and US President Barack Obama also has the honour of being displayed as a “smoking man”. Much as the early designs depicted miners, figures of respect among the community, the hero’s of today are now represented in this traditional form. Changed living conditions have resulted in variation in form.

Women are also represented in the more modern collections of different manufacturers. Remarkably there are very few female figures deserving of the description “smoking woman” since the smoking effect is often used to simulate steam, as in the design of a woman holding a bowl filled with dumplings. And even though her male equivalent does so, the female doctor is not smoking, instead drinking a cup of freshly brewed tea. These attributes reflect the traditional distribution of gender roles as women are depicted in their traditional role of providing food and care. The only truly smoking females are elegantly dressed up ladies holding cigarette holders, making clear that those women belong to a former glorious time.

In an e-mail to one of the producers I asked for the reason why common women could not be depicted smoking a simple cigarette, and received the following answer:

“Olbernhau, the town of the 7 valleys, 21st of August 2009

Dear Miss Ingwersen,

Thank you very much for your considered study of our smoking figures.

You didn’t overlook anything. We have Smoking Women, representing contemporary professions, such as hairdresser, cleaning lady, or teacher. They are of an age that was strongly warned of the health risks of smoking and so they did not do so, at least not in public.

For this reason there is no cigarette in their hands, but a smoking candle secretly hidden in their waist with the smoke silently blowing out into the air.

But joking aside, we previously had “smoking women” holding a pipe in their hands, but they were unpopular with our costumers and collectors.

Why shouldn’t a female teacher smoke during their work break ? We will think about it.

Why not the image of a woman with a packet of cigarettes, and a sign reading “Smoking is unhealthy”,?

This should be considered.   

Thank you for your suggestion. It would be a pleasure to keep in contact.

Sincerely     

…P. G.  “

Following this logic, the image of the smoking figures reflects the fact that women take better care of their health. As such, I assert that the form of the smoking figures and the light pyramid is, to a certain extent, flexible. Changes in lifestyles and politics are recognized by the companies and they react with measured curiosity, varying the forms available. However, this is still bound within the limits of largely traditional values as men work and smoke and women take care of domestic responsibilities.

Besides the commercial practice of woodcraft there are a great number of people who still practice it as a hobby. During my visit I met G. Müller, a 49 year old metal worker from Mildenau who, in his free time, carves and paints little wooden sculptures and composes small scenes.

At the age of eight he went with his grandmother to an exhibition of folk arts and crafts and was fascinated by it: “Es war so geil, wenn die Späne flogen.” (It was so nice when the cuts were flying.)

He began to practise the craft himself, continuing for a couple of years, before stopping at fifteen. But nine years ago he started again and joined the village union of carvers, the ‘Schnitzerverein". They received funding from the village council and built a new house with two rooms, where they meet every week for a chat, a beer and some carving. The club has 24 members, including a young girl and young boy, of thirteen and fourteen respectively. The age of union members goes right up to seventy five, though there is a gap in the age group between twenty and forty. Such unions still exist and in many villages in the Erzgebirge, acting as organs of social cohesion.

Mr. Müller is not interested in copying the common and traditional figurine forms, like the miners, the angles, nutcrackers or smoking men. In his work on the village’s new community pyramid. the old LPG-inspired figures have been replaced with choir singers, based on the advent tradition of children going from door to door singing carols.

But the most pleasure he gets from his craft is in portraying people he knows, creating cariacatures of their appearance, behaviour and body language. He is inspired by the scenes he experiences in everyday life and he caricatures and comments on the behaviour of others with a wry wink. This has occasionally landed him in trouble with the subjects of his figurines, as he told me with considerable pleasure..

A final consideration that comes to mind on studying these crafts is the clear importance of professional identity in Germany, as this becomes the determining factor in decorative culture, exemplified by the smoking figures. This is a curious point in our time when clear professional identities are jeopardised by ever decreasing job security, and the need for one person to take several different jobs to make ends meet. How would this modern reality of work be represented in the crafts of the Ore Mountains? What would an unemployed “smoking figure” look like?

Note:
¹ Manuel Schramm "The invention and uses of folk art in Germany: wooden toys from the Erzgebirge mountains". http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2386/is_1_115/ai_n6118620/

Anneke Ingwersen holds an BA in Fine Art from the art academy of Arnhem, the Netherlands and a BA of Creative therapy. After art graduation she attented an artist-in-residency program at www.schloss-ringenberg.de. She works as an fine artist, using the media film and photography. Her primary interests are combining optical phenomena as light and shadow and the experience of architectural spaces. 

 

The article is a result of the European City Seminars 2009 - Postindustrial Urban Space.