The History of our Corpus
The Corpus that hangs on the west wall of the
St. John worship space is the work of Leonard Jungwith. Jungwith was the creator of the famous “Sparty”, the world's largest free-standing ceramic sculpture in 1943. Jungwirth was a Michigan native who trained both locally and abroad and went on to teach at Michigan State College for 23 years. Jungwirth was born in Detroit in 1903. His father, Joachim, an Austrian wood-carver and modeler, emigrated to America in 1882; his mother, Elizabeth, was born in Germany. Jungwirth often said he “thought in wood,” rather than clay, learned the craft of woodcarving from his father, a renowned carver who had an architectural decoration firm in Detroit.
Jungwirth attended the Wicker School of Fine Arts, and received a B.A. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Detroit in 1927. From 1929-33, Jungwirth studied in Munich at the Academy of Applied Art and the Academy of Fine Arts. He was instructor of wood and stone carving at Wayne State from 1936-40. Both supervisor and artist with the Federal Arts Project from 1937-40, he completed a large granite sculpture at Belle Isle in Detroit, of Father Gabriel Richard, as part of the FAP.
Jungwirth taught aspiring sculptors at Michigan State College for 23 years. During his career at MSC, Jungwirth carved the Corpus that hangs in St. John, still today. While working on the Corpus, Bishop Joseph Albers (Lansing Diocese Bishop, 1937-1965) visited Jungwirth in his studio in 1959. Later that year, Jungwirth presented the Corpus to St. John.
In addition to the Corpus, a number of other works by Jungwirth are located on the MSU campus and in the Greater Lansing area. His local work includes four carvings based on the Paul Bunyan legend and a 'Diana of the Chase' on the second floor of the Student Union. Six ceramic relieves are in Landon Hall, and work is also located in Alumni Memorial Chapel and Van Hoosen Hall. He executed the city seal relieves for the exterior of Lansing City Hall, Stations of the Cross for St. Thomas Aquinas Church in East Lansing, and “The Three Bears” for the Willow Street School in Lansing. Jungwirth exhibited nationally as well as in Michigan, and was awarded prizes for many of his works. His work is held by many museums and at a number of outdoor sites in Michigan, and his sculpture is documented in the Inventory of American Sculpture at the Smithsonian.