The Shaker Chair by Charles R. Muller; Timothy D.

Rieman
American Art Journal, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Winter, 1985), pp. 89-90
Published by: Kennedy Galleries, Inc.
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status,moderatereligiosity,andunswervingpatriotism. Their
historyis forthemostpartpersonal,characterized by domestic
andfamilialconcerns;yet, as a resultof thePeales'creativity
and dedicationto publicservice,it possesses a significance
beyond representativeness.Believingthat the prosperityof
society dependeduponthe expansionandenrichmentof the
individualmind,the Pealesdevotedthemselvesto artisticand
scientificenterprisesdesignedto fulfillthis aim. Whatthey
accomplishedmay not havealteredthe economicor political
courseof Americanlife, butthereis no questionthatwithout
the Pealefamily,the UnitedStateswouldhavebeenless rich
and less interestingas a civilization."And by theirwords,
they aremadeflesh.
Muller, CharlesR. and TimothyD. Rieman.The Shaker
Chair.Winchester,Ohio:TheCanalPress,1984.268pp.
Approximately465 illustrations,including21 in color.
Line drawingsby StephenMetzger.AppendixA: The
Imitators. Appendix B: IdentificationChart. Biblio-
graphy.Index.$35.00.
TheShakerChair,beautifully madeandcarefully planned,
is surelythe fineststudyever producedon the quintessential
Shaker object. This serious work goes far beyond any
previoushandlingof the subjectandpresentsground-break-
ing informationthatshouldbringon somere-thinking onjust
what is Shakerand why. The authors,althoughthoroughly
versed in previouspublicationson the Shakers,havewisely
gatheredandmadeuse of as muchoriginalsourcematerialas
they could - diaries,letters, bills of sale and lading,con-
temporaryphotographs,stereoviews, postcards,advertise-
ments, catalogues- andhavegiventhemfarmorethanjust
surfaceperusal.Every itemhas been chosenwithgreatcare
andthought,givingthispublication thelookandfeelof a labor
of love.
Althoughunderstanding the spiritualas well as practical
life of a communityis advisableto an evaluationof any
group'sart,for the Shakersit is essential.Perhapsmorethan
any othercommunity,theirlifewas theirartandtheirartwas
theirlife. AuthorsCharlesMullerandTimothyRiemankeen-
ly understandthat: "The historyand developmentof the
Shakerchairis a statementaboutthe Shakersandtheirrela-
tionshipwith the world.The UnitedSocietyof Believersin
Christ'sSecondAppearanceis a separatistreligiouscommun-
ity establishedin the world,but not of it. Its membershave
come fromthe world,bringingmaterials,skills,andconcepts
that were changedtowardsperfectionwithinthe community
andoften returnedto the worldin theformof improvedideas
and products."They go on to explain:"Fromthe dualposi-
tionof beingintheworldandyet anentityseparatefromit, the
Shakerchairevolved definitedesigncharacteristics thatre-
latedto, butweredistinctivelydifferentfrom,thoseproduced
by the world'speople.TheShakerchairis anoutwardexpres-
sionof internalconcepts:simplicity,separation fromtheworld,
community,anda dedicationto finecraftsman-
utilitarianism,
The American Art Journal/Winter 1985
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ship.It is a philosophyof lifepresentedin a tangibleform;...
It is religionappliedto America'smaterialculture ...."
Membersof the UnitedSocietyof Believers,commonly
called Shakers,arrivedin Americain 1774,underthe gui-
dance of Mother Ann Lee. No doubt, as soon as it was
practical,theymadefurniture fortheirownconsumption.But
whatis amazingis thatas earlyas 1789,theyproducedchairs
that were sold to other Shakerfamiliesand to the outside
world, the lattera practicethatcontinued,we aretold, until
1942.Many of the Shakersettlementsmadechairs,at one
time or another,for their own use or for sale. For some
communities,it becamea thrivingbusinessanda most wel-
come sourceof revenue.Forothers,it remaineda small-scale,
highly individualpractice.Throughouttheir study, the au-
thors have made good use of diariesthat show just how
personala job chair-making couldbe. Thatof FreegiftWells
(1785-1871), Shakerchair-maker, is particularly
richin refer-
ences to his craft.It is importantto noteherethatthe authors
have been carefulto use the originalspellingsandformof the
Shaker quotations,and have retainedthe original,Shaker
terminologyfor partsof the chair- hence, "pommel"for
finial.
Just as we admirethe apparentlysimpledesignof the
Shakerchair, it must be admittedthat theirdesignwas far
more subtle and complex than we would realizeat first.
CharlesMullerandTimothyRiemanguideus towardtheidea
that there was considerablevariationfrom communityto
communityand that almostevery settlementhad its own,
discerniblestyle. But to see this,one mustlookveryclosely,
indeed. The authorsurge (italicstheirs)that in "usingthis
book to determinethe communityoriginof a particular chair,
the readershouldconsiderall elementsof the chair.A com-
parisonof pommelsand backslatsand armstyleand rocker
shape ... a look at the total chair ... is necessary. The
workmanshipof some communitiesis similarand,therefore,
often difficultto differentiate.This is particularly
trueof the
early chairs." They carefullypoint out that transmittalor
transferenceof designelementsbetweenShakercommunities
was a mostimportantfactor.Thecommunitiesof New Leba-
non and Harvard,for example,suppliedchairsto Hancock
and Enfield.(Some Shakerenthusiastsmay be surprisedto
hearthe authors'carefullyresearchedopinionthatthe Han-
cock communitynevermadechairsat all,althoughtheymade
other notable furnitureand despite much talk about the
"Hancock"chairtype.) Transferencealso occurredby the
moving of membersfrom one communityto another,the
authorsexplain,bringingwiththemtheirown sense of style
and workingmethods.Interestingly,they tell us, sometimes
one community requested "design information"from
another,andcite documentsto proveit.
Superbdetailphotographs andlinedrawingsthatcouldn't
be betterare a big help to the readertryingto sort out the
differencesin the designelements.The use of the separate
identificationchartalso shouldaid in seeingmorereadilythe
subtlevariations.Thosewhoarefamiliarwitholderstudieson
the subjectmaynoticeanabsenceof somesupposedlyShaker
chairtypes. "TheShakerChair,"the authorsexplain,"is an
89
 attempt to delineate what the Shaker chair is and, in some
cases, what it is not. Many chairs which have previously been
called 'Shaker' do not appear in this volume because of our
conviction that they were not made by the United Society of
Believers. Others do not appear because of their uncertain
origins." They add: "We realize that this book is not a final
statement but a contributionto the resource materialavailable
for future study."
Although most scholars and connoisseurs regard the
chairs the Shakers made for their own use, "non-production"
chairs, as the most pure, the study of the remarkablesuccess
of the Shakers' chair-makingfor the world has much to re-
commend it, and the authors give it the attention it deserves.
The Society of Believers had faith in the power of advertising
as well as the spirit and were very, very good at marketing
their wares. Interestingly, they exhibited at the Philadelphia
Centennial Exhibition where they won a medal and a diploma.
Along with their success came that inevitable and rather
dubious form of flattery - imitation. So widespread had the
copying become that as early as 1874,the Shakerswere forced
to make the now-familiarwarning "Beware of imitations"and
resorted to adding trademarkdecals and stamps to their pro-
ducts. Spiritual they were, but foolish they were not. Never-
theless, defending themselves against the onslaught that fol-
lowed was a challenge, to say the least. In the appendix, the
authors state that "a number of chair companies contempor-
ary to the Shakers attempted to capitalize upon the success
and good name of the Shaker chair industry. Some of these
companies openly sold their products as Shaker;they copied,
sometimes closely, the design of the Shaker chair. Other
companies advertised and sold their chairs as Shaker even
though there were significant differences in style; some bore
no resemblance at all." Many of these bogus chairs, some
made by the Stickley company, are now masqueradingas
Shaker in collections all over the country. Some forms, as-
sumed for years to be within the Shaker design group- a
variation of a bentwood rocker and a spindle-back chair -
were, in fact, never made by the Shakers at all, accordingto
Charles Muller and Timothy Rieman. As most Shaker chairs
still widely available are the so-called "production" chairs,
this appendix is definitely going to bring on some serious
re-examination and separating of Shaker wheat from wordly,
chaff.
But while the Shaker chair production was on, it was a
marvel of organi7ationand it is a treat to be able to examine in
facsimile all the originaldocuments the authorshave provided
- bills, tags, labels, railroadfreighting receipts, newspaper
cuttings, and entire catalogues. It would seem that despite the
competition, nothing could have halted their productionbut,
sadly, it went into a decline along with the Shaker member-
ship and then stopped altogether. By the 1940s, the few
remaining Shakers had become curiosities and their posses-
sions historic objects to be eagerly sought. The authors quote
the fateful comments of a Shaker, one Jenny Wells, in 1947:
"Most of our visitors these days are antiquecollectors, and all
they're interested in is buying up what littlefine old handsome
90
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furniturewe have left. Why, the people would grabthe chairs
right out from under us if we'd let them. Our furnitureis very
fashionable all of a sudden. You know, I understandit's called
modernistic...."
Reaves, Wendy Wick, editor. American Portrait Prints: Pro-
ceedings of the Tenth Annual American Print Confer-
ence. Published for the National PortraitGallery, Smith-
sonian Institution. Charlottesville: University Press of
Virginia, 1984.285 pages. 128illustrations.Index. $20.00.
Officially, the proceedings of a conference on American
portrait prints held at the National PortraitGallery in May,
1979 (and just published in 1984), the eight essays included in
this volume comprise some very fine work by highly-respected
scholars. They are as stimulatingand as pleasant to read as
they must have been to hear. Described by the publishersas
"one of an ongoing series of conference reports on pictorial
Americana," this convention's topics "address the subject of
portraitprints produced in America from the late eighteenthto
the late nineteenth century, with a glimpse into the twen-
tieth." They are: "Saint-Memin, Valdenuit, Lemet: Federal
Profiles" by Ellen Miles; "The Golden Age of Illustrated
Biographies: Three Case Studies" by Gordon M. Marshall;
"Portraits for Every Parlor: Albert Newsam and American
Portrait Lithography" by Wendy Wick Reaves; "Portrait
Prints by John Sartain" by KatharineMartinez;"David Clay-
poole Johnston's Theatrical Portraits" by David Tatham;
"Daguerreotypes onto Stone: The Life and Work of Francis
D'Avignon" by William F. Stapp; "American PortraitEtch-
ing of the Late Nineteenth Century" by Daryl R. Rubinstein;
and "Introspection and Imagination:Portraiturein Twentieth
Century Prints" by Alan Fern. Almost certainly, some, per-
haps quite a few, of the artists or prints discussed are scarcely
known to most readers. No doubt having anticipated this,
Reaves remarks "It is hoped that this volume will introduce
some new names and some new faces that will delight and
inform us about our forgotten past."
A field that has recently been arousing a great deal of
interest and some very keen collecting, "historical prints,"
for want of a better name, is a fertile area in which to study the
essence of being American and the experience of living in
America. As Wendy Wick Reaves presents her subject in the
preface, "'Historical prints,' a misleading but commonly
used term for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century graphic
Americana, includes a wide variety of materialrangingfrom
separately published engravings or lithographs to book and
maga7ine illustrations, almanac covers, sheet-music titles,
broadsides, advertisements, and posters. These images from
the past have only recently attracted scholarly attention as
important documents of American culture. The neglect is
understandable, for pictorialmaterialof this type is generallya
commercial art, a popular art, and frequently a derivative
art - precisely the elements that most curatorsof fine prints
would be likely to spurn. Although the originality,refinement,
and rarity we expect from a work of art is sometimes missing,
these images are importantillustrationsof American life."
Turano/Book Reviews