Jean M. Burks

Timothy Rieman

Explores the Shaker religion and lifestyle, highlights particular artisans, and examines the development of Shaker styling over time

Complete Book of Shaker Furniture

Timothy D. Rieman

This book documents Shaker furniture from communities in New England, Ohio, and Kentucky throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Free-standing tables, chairs, desks, boxes, and case clocks and built-in cupboards and cases of drawers are included. The text provides a detailed account of Shaker history, culture, and religion. Further, it examines Shaker design and tools, reporting new research on the Shaker color palette.

Encyclopedia of Shaker Furniture

This is the perfect introduction to Shaker furniture design.This concise book surveys distinctive furniture styles produced during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Shaker communities of New England, Kentucky, and Ohio, with over 130 beautiful full color images. Free-standing tables, chairs, boxes, desks, built-in cupboards, and cases of drawers are shown. The text provides an introduction to nearly twenty Shaker communities, their known cabinetmakers, identifiable traits of furniture designs unique to specific Shaker communites, and the characteristic colorful paints and stains used to finish them.

The Shaker Furniture Handbook

Jean M. Humez

Sumpter Priddy

Design Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts

Robert P. Emlen

Shelburne Museum

M. Stephen Miller

An exploration of 200 years of Shaker design and spirituality, with new attention to Shaker influence on contemporary design Reaching an apogee of 6,000 members in the years just before the Civil War, the Shaker movement was the most extensive, enduring, and successful utopian society ever established in America. Leaving Manchester, England, in 1776 to avoid persecution, the Shakers crossed the Atlantic and during the next 50 years established 19 villages from Maine to Kentucky. The Shakers were guided by the principles of utility, honesty, and order in both their work and worship, and this belief system influenced the physical expression of the goods they produced for use at home and for sale outside their communities. This lovely book presents a wide array of extraordinarily fine examples of Shaker furniture, household objects, textiles, religious drawings, and items made to sell to the "world's people" (non-Shakers). The book's expert contributors discuss Shaker design in relation to the furniture they constructed, the products they sold, their gift drawings and spirituality, and their rejection of American Fancy design. The book also considers the powerful inspiration Shaker design has provided for diverse modern and contemporary designers, including George Nakashima, Roy McMakin, Thomas Moser, and Scandinavian furniture makers.

Out of this World

Shaker Design

Jerrold Hirsch

Erika Doss

The Index of American Design was one of the most significant undertakings of the Federal Art Project -- the visual arts arm of the Works Progress Administration. Part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, this ambitious initiative set out to discover and document an authentic American style in everyday objects. The curators of the Index combed the country for art of the machine age -- from carved carousel horses to engraved powder horns to woven coverlets -- created by artisans for practical use. In their search for a true American artistic identity, they also sought furniture designed by regional craftsmen laboring in isolation from European traditions. Kentucky by Design offers the first comprehensive examination of the objects from the Bluegrass State featured in this historic venture. It showcases a wide array of offerings, including architecture, furniture, ceramics, musical instruments, textiles, clothing, and glass- and metalworks. The Federal Art Project played an important role in documenting and preserving the work of Shaker artists from the Pleasant Hill and South Union communities, and their creations are exhibited in this illuminating catalog. Beautifully illustrated with both the original watercolor depictions and contemporary, art-quality photographs of the works, this book is a lavish exploration of the Commonwealth's distinctive contribution to American culture and modern design. Features contributions from Jean M. Burks, Erika Doss, Jerrold Hirsch, Lauren Churilla, Larrie Currie, Michelle Ganz, Tommy Hines, Lee Kogan, Ron Pen, Janet Rae, Shelly Zegart, Mel Hankla, Philippe Chavance, Kate Hesseldenz, Madeleine Burnside, and Allan Weiss.

Jean M. Burks

Books

Your next favorite book is out there