Frist Center Hosts 'Gather Up the Fragments' Exhibition 5/20-8/21

Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection, an exhibition featuring more than 200 objects, including furniture, drawings, household objects, textiles and baskets from one of the country's most renowned Shaker collections, will be on view in the Frist Center's Upper-Level Galleries May 20 - Aug. 21, 2011.

The exhibition is organized by Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass. and is drawn from the collection of Faith and Edward Deming Andrews, who from the 1920s through the 1960s, assembled a large and important collection of Shaker art and pioneered the study of Shaker religion. The exhibition is the largest, most comprehensive collection of Shaker material ever assembled.

"We are delighted to be able to bring this magnificent collection of objects to Nashville," said Frist Center Curator Katie Delmez. "With so much interest in Shaker furniture, and the presence of a Shaker community in Kentucky, we hope our visitors will take from this exhibition a deeper understanding of the inherent simplicity, craftsmanship and practicality of Shaker design and the culture from which it came."

A chance visit to a Shaker kitchen in 1923 ignited in Faith and Edward Deming Andrews a passion that lasted their entire lives. After seeing and admiring the beauty of every item in that Shaker kitchen, they began collecting Shaker works, got to know many members of the United Society of Believers (the Shakers) and began a study of the culture that fueled their fascination with Shaker society. Not only did their efforts result in recognition of Shakers as a distinct culture, but through their relationships with New York City art world figures of the 1930s, they were able to foster appreciation and admiration for the Shaker aesthetic and reverence for simplicity. Through their collecting and scholarly contributions to the field, the Andrews both created and preserved a vast body of knowledge about Shaker society and culture.

The Andrews' devotion to Shaker culture is reflected in the title of the exhibition drawn from the
Biblical phrase from John 6:12 (King James Version): "Gather up the fragments that remain, that
nothing be lost."

On view in the exhibition will be a beautifully designed Double Trustees' Desk, created in Mount Lebanon, N.Y. in 1840. The pine secretary was made to be used by two people at one time, probably a pair of trustees, who were appointed to manage the community's business interests and interactions with the external world. Also from the community at Mount Lebanon is a wall clock made by Brother Isaac Newton Youngs in 1840. On the back of the face he wrote: "O Time!, how swift that solemn day rolls on/When from these mortal scenes we shall be gone!!!"

There are six Shaker boxes and several other carriers in the exhibition, which were both used by
Shakers in their everyday tasks and sold to interested outsiders. Even today, Shaker boxes are
prized for their elegance and durability.

"One has only to visit an antique or modern design store to see that Shaker design continues to
be tremendously popular. It is clear that the design principles seen in these beautiful works are
truly timeless and meld simplicity in form and function in enduring and extraordinary ways,"
said Delmez.

Hancock Shaker Village recently celebrated its 50th anniversary as a living history museum and
center for the study of principled living. The fully restored village includes more than 22,000
examples of Shaker furniture, crafts, tools and clothing that depict daily living in the Shakers'
City of Peace community during its 220-year history.

A hardcover catalog accompanies Gather Up the Fragments. It was written by Mario S.
De Pillis, professor emeritus of American religious and social history at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst and Christian Goodwillie, former curator of collections at Hancock
Shaker Village.

 

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