Date: Sat 04-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Shaker-Exhibit-Kirk-book

Full Text:

The Shaker World/LB

(w/cuts)

Fran Kramer

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- In The Shaker World, a new exhibit based on John Kirk's

1997 book by the same name, a challenging perspective is offered for

understanding the relationship between the daily life of the Shakers and the

objects they made.

The 60-object show is installed in two galleries at the Shaker Museum and

Library in Old Chatham, N.Y. The exhibit would never have happened without the

286-page volume by Kirk, an American and English furniture scholar. And the

book probably would not have come about without the research facilities and

pristine collections of the Shaker Museum.

Kirk came to the museum in 1987 to lecture on Shaker design where he met the

museum's curator, Jerry Grant. Kirk became so intrigued by what he saw that he

resolved to answer a burning question: Why do Shaker made objects look the way

they do?

Kirk is still asking that question, but now thinks he has some answers, as

discussed at a recent forum at Hancock Shaker Village. He challenges early

Shaker scholars, such as Faith and Edward Deming Andrews, whose words and

pictures portray what he calls a myth. Kirk objects to the oversimplification

of Shaker life as austere and isolated, is critical of the staged settings in

which Shaker artifacts have been shown, and emphasizes that color was very

much part of the Shaker interior. As he puts it, "A book for the 1940's may

not fit the 1990's."

More contemporary, Kirk says, is the view that color -- primarily yellow, red,

and blue -- was integral to Shaker design. Up until 1860, all domestic Shaker

furniture was finished with a colored surface, he notes.

Shaker furniture was not always plain and simple. Unnecessary features were

not always eliminated. Sometimes the Shakers incorporated large cornices,

molded lip drawers, and chair finials, among other elements.

Kirk's main thesis is that the Shakers, though they kept apart from the World

as much as possible, brought with them experiences, skills, and biases drawn

from their prior lives. Their objects reflected regional vernacular

influences.

The Shakers, argues Kirk, were not outside the Nineteenth Century design

mainstream. For instance, Neoclassical tendencies -- including an emphasis on

order, proportion, and repetition -- may be detected in Shaker furniture.

Both book and exhibit provide a novel approach to the study of Shaker art and

life. The book illustrates 111 artifacts, of which about half are included in

the show. Over a dozen institutions are represented, though the Shaker Museum

provided nearly half the works. With a collection of 17,000 objects and an

archive of 18,500 documents, the Shaker Museum clearly is a pre-eminent center

for research.

Some of the items on view have been prominently displayed in the museum's

galleries. Others, such as textiles, have not been on view for some time.

Together with ephemera, they are arranged to illustrate Kirk's theory on why

Shaker objects are what they are.

This juxtaposition makes the show interesting. The physical plan is simple and

conservative. Two exhibit galleries, one in the main building and another in

the education building, provide the advanced collector with food for thought.

Aren't the wonderful blue tailoring counter, the Brother's blue vest, and the

Sister's blue shoes inconsistent with the colorless picture we have of the

Shakers?

The gallery for textiles and furniture is rectangular. The objects are

arranged around the walls, with another rectangular staging of objects in the

central area. Raised white platforms and standard Plexiglas covers recede from

emphasis as the viewer is drawn to the objects themselves. Signage is minimal.

In the education building, Shaker ephemera is simply hung on the four walls.

Photographs and old prints depict the Shakers as outsiders viewed them.

Kirk admits that many have contributed to our distorted image of the Shakers.

The Shakers themselves kept alive and exploited an image of their past that

was inconsistent with the facts of their present day existence.

The Shaker World, both book and exhibit, strives to capture the real past. The

book, of course, is more comprehensive. Kirk even takes us right up to the

present, including pictures of Modern art and furniture in an attempt to

reconcile the Shakers' place in the Twentieth Century. His revisionist views

are open to question, but greater debate among dealers, collectors, and

academics is healthy.

The Shaker World: Art, Life, Belief is a tome. Read it in pieces, but read it.

The Shaker World upends old ways of viewing the artifacts made by America's

most successful communal sect. See the show, preferably after skimming the

book.

The Shaker Museum and Library is at 88 Shaker Road in Old Chatham, telephone

518/794-8621. The museum is open to early November, daily except Tuesdays.

The Shaker World ($60 hardcover) was published by Harry N. Abrams, New York.