ARTnShaker Designnby Caroline MorgannIn 1935 the Whitney Museum mountednthe first comprehensive exhibit ofnShaker artifacts, celebrating the simplicitynand harmony of the Shakernartistic vision. This past summer, thenWhitney opened a much more ambitiousnshow of “Shaker Design,”nlater shown at The Corcoran Gallery ofnArt in Washington, DC, from Octobernthrough January.nUnited Technologies Corporation,nwhich is sponsoring “Shaker Design,”nhas become an increasingly importantncorporate sponsor of art exhibitions innNew York. This exhibit in particularncomplements the industries supportingnit, since Shaker design, in the words ofnUTC President Robert Daniell, “is sonpurposeful in concept and so economicalnin execution.”nEven more outstanding than thenshow is the full-color exhibition catalognin which many Shaker artists arenidentified for the first time. JunenSprigg, guest curator, introduces artisansnsuch as furniture-maker HenrynGreen, who sold Shaker pieces alongnthe Maine seashore; physician JamesnX. Smith, who designed an ingeniousnclose stool for infirm patients; chair-nWork stand, circa 1825-50;nMetropolitan Museum of Art,nNew York. Photo by Paul ].nRocheleau.nmaker Robert Wagan, who marketednShaker products nationally throughnmail-order catalogs; watercolor artistnHannah Cohoon, whose designs appearednto her “brought by an angel”;nand Isaac N. Youngs, a clockmakernwho found it “needful and admisable”n[sic] to install clocks in barns.nThis catalog and exhibition withnmore than 100 pieces of furniture,nhousehold objects, tools, graphic designs,ntextiles, and textile equipmentnalso focus in a meaningful way on thenShaker community which created andnused these items. The spiritual purposenand strong will of Ann Lee, thenfounding Mother who lost her fournchildren in infancy and later crossednan ocean to establish an enduringnUtopian community, still shinesnthrough two centuries later in functionalnobjects of simple beauty andnperfect proportion.nThe exhibit, however, could notnpossibly evoke the spiritual totality ofnthe Shaker households and shops innwhich these objects were used. Relievednof familial anxieties and thendemands of fashion in the outsidenworld. Shaker artists shaped their designsnto reflect the perfection of anhigher reality. The remaining establishmentsnwhich today can be visitednas museums of the Shaker spirit havenpreserved Shaker artifacts in theirnproper settings. A table or chair thatnmight appear too austere when displayednalone fits more appealingly intonthe symmetry of a communal diningnroom.nThe peaceful attraction of Shakerndesign continues to endure, attractingnthousands of visitors each year to museumsnlike the Settlement in PleasantnHill, Kentucky, which contains a famousnfree-standing double spiral staircase.nIn this complex, where my childrennsaw their first floor loom innoperation, visitors sense the quietnpeacefulness with which generationsnof Shakers endowed the very windows,ndoors, and fences of Pleasant Hill. Thenquiet strength and joyous energy,nwhich somehow coexist in such places,ncan still be felt in things as large asnthe dance patterns worn in the meetinghousenfloor down to the smallestnbox and bonnet.nCaroline Morgan is a drama and artncritic in New York.nMichael R HamiltonnAMERICANnCHARACTERnFOREIGNnA brilliantnanalysis ofnchurch/statenrelationships….”n—The Right ReverendnJohn S. SpongnEpiscopal Bishop of Newarkn”These perceptive and originalnessays, reflecting the authors’nunique range of experience inngovernment, theology, education,nand history, illuminate thenpowerful-yet often underestimated-effectsnwhich thenAmerican character has had, andncontinues to have, on the formationnof our foreign policy. Anthoughtful, cogent, and ultimatelynreassuring contribution tonthe continuing debate overnAmerica’s proper role in thenworld.”n—The HonorablenHeyward IshamnFormer Ambassador to HaitinContributors: Marcuss CunliffeBnRobert L. BeisnerHJohn L. Caddisn• Charles M. LichensteinBnRobert N. Bellah • Earl H. Brill •nRichard J. BarnetBDale R. Weigeln• Elliott P. Skinner • McCeorgenBundyH Alton FryenPaper, $11.95nnnAt your bookstore, dr write;nWM. B. EERDMANSn^ivc PUBLISHING CO.n255 JEFFERSON AVE. S.E. / GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 49503nFEBRUARY 1987 / 43n