Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Shaker

Full Text:

Shaker Gifts

(with 5 cuts)

NEW YORK CITY -- "Shaker Gifts, Shaker Genius: The Collections of the Shaker

Museum and Library," a new exhibition celebrating the history, artistic and

cultural legacy of the American Shakers, will be presented at the PaineWebber

Art Gallery January 21 through April 2.

Organized by the Shaker Museum and Library in Old Chatham, N.Y., the

exhibition will feature religious objects and documents, historical prints and

photographs, and objects associated with the Shakers' everyday life and work

as well as popular icons of Shaker design: Shaker rocking chairs and wooden

oval boxes.

"Shaker Gifts, Shaker Genius" will explore twin themes in the Shaker

experience: the gifts received through spiritual revelation and the genius

that found expression in the furniture, architecture, costume, music, and

products they created. Highlights of the exhibition, which will feature nearly

400 objects, include fragile bonnets made and worn by Shaker Sisters,

cabinetmakers' woodworking tools and machinery, drawings by Shakers that

record spiritual visions, and a fire engine made in 1822 by Brother Thomas

Corbett and used by the Canterbury, N.H. Shakers.

The Shakers, also known as the Society of Believers in Christ's Second

Appearing, originated from a small group of religious dissenters formed in

mid-Eighteenth Century England. Ann Lee, the charismatic founder of the

Shakers, came to America in 1774 with a group of eight followers seeking

religious freedom.

The group was called "Shakers" because of the ecstatic style of their worship,

which involved singing, shouting, shaking and dancing. Lee and her followers

formed the foundation for a society where men and women lived in voluntary

association and worked and worshipped in peace, humility, and order.

The Shakers separated themselves from the outside world and lived together as

Brothers and Sisters. The core tenets of Shaker ideology are celibacy,

confession of sin, common property, equality of the sexes, and spiritual

revelation. An essence of simplicity -- a singleness of heart unencumbered by

society's fads and fashions -- allowed an undivided focus on the spiritual

side of everyday life. The Shakers are widely considered one of America's most

successful communal groups; at their peak, in the 1840s, they numbered nearly

5,000 living in 18 communities from Maine to Kentucky.

The exhibition is organized thematically leading the viewer through gallery

spaces dedicated to "Shaker Furniture and Design," "Shaker Commerce and

Industry," "Shaker Costume," "Biographical Portraits," "Religion and Worship,"

"History of the Shaker Museum," and "Twentieth Century Shakerism."

Perhaps the most widely recognizable Shaker artifact, the Shaker chair, will

be the focus of this section of the exhibition. Sparse, simple, and elegant,

the chair is the quintessential statement of the joining of form and function.

Featured in the exhibition will be an arrangement of Shaker production rocking

chairs, chair catalogues and the bright gold trademark used to authenticate

the Shaker chairs from their imitators.

An array of chairs used in Shaker communities will allow the viewer to explore

the variety of materials used for different types of seating including splint,

cane, rush, and woven cloth tape. An arrangement of special purpose chairs --

including a wheelchair converted from a rocker, a chair adapted to use at a

loom, an ironing chair, a revolving chair, and an armless rocker fitted with

drawers -- will illustrate the Shakers talent for innovation and adaptation.

Although ideologically separate from the "world's people" (non-Shakers), the

Shakers remained connected to mainstream America through their many and often

lucrative commercial ventures. Accompanied by colorful advertisements and

promotional materials, this section will reveal how these savvy entrepreneurs

marketed their products.

The Shakers developed a reputation as honest businessmen and women, and the

producers of the highest quality products. Their goods were sold in Shaker

shops, through mail order catalogues, and by Shaker peddlers who transported

the products on their wagons throughout the eastern United States.

This section of the exhibition will present an overview of important Shaker

industries including the production of oval boxes, poplarware, medicines, and

garden seeds. One of the earliest of the Shaker industries -- the production

of oval boxes -- originated at the Shaker community in New Lebanon, N.Y.

Although New England pantry boxes were ubiquitous in households, the Shakers

refined this common object and infused it with a sense of beauty and unity. A

selection of oval boxes will be on display illustrating the variety of finish,

size and color that were available in this visually appealing form.

The Shakers pioneered the production of paper packets to hold and market

garden seeds. This business flourished for more than 100 years, creating a

standard for the industry. On view will be the printed material used to

support this huge business including the individual printed packets and the

seed boxes lined with brightly colored advertisements and labels. Also on view

will be beautiful sewing baskets and boxes made of woven strips of poplar wood

lined in silk and satin. Shaker medicine will be represented by Nineteenth

Century packed herbs and "remedies" with their decorative labels and

advertisements.

Although women and men were considered equal, Shaker attitudes toward women

were complex, reflecting the attitudes of the dominant culture in the United

States. This was especially true in the gendered division of labor. Shaker

Sisters laundered, cleaned, cooked, wove rugs and blankets, and made clothes.

The men were farmers, coopers, blacksmiths, cobblers, joiners and

cabinetmakers.

Highlights of these two sections include the earliest extant Shaker-made dress

dated to 1811 and a Shaker-made dress from the mid-Nineteenth Century. Nine

Shaker bonnets, displayed side by side, will demonstrate the variety of color,

form, and materials found in Shaker sister headwear. Brilliant silk

neckerchiefs, handkerchiefs, berthas, knitted stockings, gloves and a

Victorian crazy quilt will be included.

The Brother's work will be represented by tools and machinery used to make

Shaker furniture. It will include a mid-Nineteenth Century planing machine, a

mortising machine, a workbench, a wall-mounted cupboard, and a variety of

woodworking tools.

The biographical section of the exhibition will highlight the achievements,

contributions, and personalities of five individual Shakers: Eldress Sarah

Collins, Brother Orren Haskins, Eldress Emma Neale, Elder Henry Blinn, and

Sister Cora Helena Sarles. Designed to explore the history of the Shakers

through biographical association, this area will allow the viewer to better

understand the historical context in which men and women became Shakers, and

why they stayed in this communal society. Each personality will be interpreted

through personal artifacts, photographs and journals.

Religion and worship are at the core of Shaker life. This section will

consider the religious practices and beliefs that formed the Shaker

experience. The centerpiece will be a fountain stone from Canterbury, N.H.

that originally marked a sacred site where believers gathered for outdoor

worship in the 1840s. Other artifacts, such as a Brother's stunning blue vest

and a pair of a Sister's blue shoes worn during worship services, will be

juxtaposed with prints illustrating Shaker dance and a meetinghouse bench from

Enfield, N.H. A selection of hymnals and books of musical instruction, gift

drawings and other inspired writings produced by the Shakers in the 1840s and

1850s will also be on view.

Furnishings re-create a room setting from an original Shaker dwelling house.

Highlights from this section will include masterpieces of classical Shaker

furniture (1810-1840) including a green painted bed, a yellow painted case of

drawers, a candle stand and rocking chair, an early stove, a basket, woodbin,

spit box, woven rug and a rare wall covering.

The sheer size of wood-framed Shaker buildings, some as high as four to five

stories, made the difficulty of fighting fire a great concern. A Shaker fire

engine from Canterbury, N.H. will be on view. Made in 1822, this 13-foot long

horse-drawn hand pumper was designed by the community's physician, Brother

Thomas Corbett.

"Shaker Gifts, Shaker Genius" will present the early history of the Shaker

Museum and Library and the evolution of John S. William's country estate, Good

Hope Farm, into a museum through photographs, postcards, publications,

scrapbooks and letters. Featured in the introductory section will be the

striking portrait of John S. Williams (1937). Williams' interest in Shaker

architecture will be presented through photographs he took of Shaker buildings

at Mount Lebanon, N.Y. Images of other family members involved in preserving

Shaker history will also be on display.

The exhibition concludes with an examination of objects and industries

associated with Twentieth Century Shakerism. A bean oven used in the 1930s and

1940s to market baked beans from the back of a pick-up will be featured in

this section. Bean pots and ephemera will be included as well as fancy goods

and Shaker dolls. Present day Shakerism will be explored through examples of

the recent publications and products of the Shaker community at Sabbathday

Lake, Me.

The Shaker Museum and Library is located in Old Chatham on 48 acres of rolling

hills in northern Columbia County in the upper Hudson Valley region. The

museum houses the nation's most comprehensive collection of Shaker objects --

nearly 38,000 artifacts and archival materials. Its 24 galleries are open to

the public 10 am to 5 pm every day except Tuesday, from April 24-October 31.

For information, 518/794-9100, ext 100.

The PaineWebber Art Gallery is in PaineWebber's corporate headquarters, 1285

Avenue of the Americas (between 51st and 52nd Streets). The Gallery is on the

ground floor of the building and is open Monday through Friday from 8 am until

6 pm. Admission is free.