For 20 years, antiques dealers Harvey and Rosalyn Pranian have been admirers of furnishings and objects made by the religious group known as the Shakers.
”We`ve been drawn to the furnishings by the simplicity of the design, their unostentatiousness and directness and, of course, the craftsmanship,”
said Harvey Pranian.
So when two other area Shaker collectors, Elaine Disch and Judy McCaskey, approached Pranian about a year ago and asked if he would be interested in staging an exhibition, he went to work immediately.
The result is ”Shaker: The Simple Form. Outstanding Works From Chicago Collections,” a presentation of about 75 museum-quality pieces never seen before in the Midwest. The exhibit, underwritten by Lands End Inc., opens Saturday at Harvey`s Antiques in Evanston and runs through Feb. 22.
The Shaker pieces familiar to most are simple ladderback chairs and rockers, straight-lined tables, unadorned bureaus with broad knob pulls and oval boxes crafted in the 18th and 19th Centuries by members of the sect properly known as the United Believers in Christ`s Second Appearance.
When they arrived in the U.S. from England in the late 1700s, they numbered only nine. A few decades later, 6,000 Shakers lived in 23
communities, from Maine to Kentucky. The Shakers are celibate but replenished their ranks by recruiting adults into their communes and took in orphans, some of whom stayed when they grew up. Today, only a handful remain.
Every piece the Shakers made reflected their religious belief, ”Hands to work and hearts to God,” and they believed that their chairs should be suitable for angels.
The spare design that characterizes Shaker style often was stereotyped as austere. But an exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York in 1986 introduced another dimension, showing that color-deep mustard yellows, blues and rich reds-also was expressed in the work. The Whitney exhibit ignited what already was a growing interest, and auction prices soared.
Three years ago a Shaker rosewood and tin dustpan fetched $4,000; a tall chest from the Shaker community of New Lebanon, N.Y., sold for $99,000 and a candlestick for $154,000.
A New York auctioneer then predicted that while prices have not approached those of other highly collectible 19th Century pieces-such as those by Gustav Stickley, whose pieces have gone for as high as $300,000-it`s just a matter of time.
Prices have undoubtedly been boosted by such collectors as Bill Cosby, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey, who just last year snapped up oodles of Shaker for close to half a million dollars.
”The furnishings symbolize a lifestyle that is less complicated and stressful. Also, in a time of mass production of goods and services, it`s appealing. The design is very exacting and thoughtful.”
The only design limitation was anything that reflected excess. ”The Shakers` emphasis was not on self-interest or getting ahead,” Pranian said.
”They lived for each other, and that freed them to concentrate on doing what they did well. Color was exuberant, but everything they made had to be without embellishment. It`s a real case where form follows function.
”For the Shakers, the making of a chair was an act of worship, no different from planting a garden. They were tremendously proud of their work.”
The enormous general interest in Shaker originals has a number of American manufacturers reproducing pieces or creating Shaker-style
collections. Even a French furniture manufacturer, Grange, sells a line of Shaker-style furnishings (available in Chicago through the Merchandise Mart). Today, original chairs cost $300 to $2,000-plus. In their day, prices ranged from 50 cents (for boxes) to $8.50 (for chairs), which Marshall Field & Co. sold at the turn of the century. The meteoric prices are disturbing to the remaining Shakers in Sabbathday, Maine.
”They`re appalled,” said Disch, who has been visiting that community since 1981. ”Materialism was furthest from their minds. They created these wonderful things, but their objective was their commitment to religion and their communal living.”
Disch says that most people have misconceptions about the Shakers:
”The Shakers who have become my friends are not isolated. They have a Cuisinart and videocam (both gifts), a VCR and a dishwasher. They enjoy life very much. They watch public television, read and go to the symphony. They give to their community. They have wonderful gardens and produce vinegars and seasonings (that even are sold in London and Italy; four herb vinegars and salad seasonings will be for sale during the exhibit, even though the furniture will not).
”The Shakers,” Disch said, have incredible humor, respect for one another and a tenacity to keep their way of life going, no matter what they encounter.”
Harvey`s Antiques, 1231 Chicago Ave., Evanston is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 708-866-6766.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SHOW Here are some of the significant pieces being shown:
– A maple ladderback chair with a blue woven tape seat, circa 1880.
”It`s a production chair (rather than a piece made for their own community),” Pranian said, ”but it`s extraordinary. It just sings to you. It has extra-long arms, an extra-deep seat and only two slats on the back. The Shakers made chairs numbered from 0 to 7, smallest to largest. This is a No. 7.”
– Sewing desk, 1898. ”An immensely important piece, made by Elder Henry Green in Alfred, Maine. The desk, which has its original red stain, was used to hold sewing paraphernalia.”
– Tiger maple table, circa 1830. ”A very graceful and beautiful table from Canterbury, N.H., with a scalloped skirt front and what are called breadboard ends that keep the top from warping.”
– Chest of drawers, circa 1840. ”A pine piece from Massachusetts, with its original red finish. Very elegant as well as functional. Above two split drawers is a slide-out surface, probably used for writing.”
– A series of poplarware boxes. ”These were boxes of different sizes, woven from wood chips through the web of a loom, then lined and padded with satin, tied with silk ribbons and used to hold sewing materials, herbs, a variety of objects.”
