Selling Shaker bookcover

Selling Shaker

The Promotion of Shaker Design in the Twentieth Century
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Description

The Shakers - a religious community whose origins are founded in the eighteenth century - continue to exert an influence upon twenty-first century life, not for their religious teachings but rather through the simple yet elegant aesthetic they developed for the everyday artefacts they designed for themselves. Selling Shaker aims to explore this influence and chart its evolution throughout the course of the twentieth century via the interest shown by the media, art institutions and general public in the Shaker story. Whilst other books have sought to examine the origins of the religious or aesthetic basis of the movement throughout the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this book seeks to deal with the Shaker phenomenon from a different angle. Selling Shaker examines the means by which the Shakers have been 'promoted' during the course of the last century by scholars and museum academics in order to establish a 'national' style. The book follows this process from high art to popular culture influences illustrating how the Shaker style has entered the general design consciousness and in doing so has become a generic style largely divorced from the original Shaker aesthetic. Using a variety of sources ranging from museum catalogues to contemporary design magazines, Selling Shaker aims to tell the story of the rise and rise of the Shaker phenomenon.

Product Details

PublisherLiverpool University Press
Publish DateJuly 01, 2006
Pages320
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconHardback
EAN/UPC9781846310089
Dimensions8.7 X 6.9 X 1.0 inches | 2.4 pounds
BISAC Categories: History, Arts & Hobbies,

About the Author

Stephen Bowe is Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University.

Peter Richmond lectures on architectural design and history at the University of Liverpool and is the author of Marketing Modernisms: The Architecture and Influences of Charles Reilly.

Peter Richmond is an architectural and design historian.

Reviews

A forthcoming book, Selling Shaker ... discusses, with a good deal of detailed analysis and some fine mordant humour, the slow process by which Shakerism continues to creep into the American marketplace, as Mother Ann's purities become the playthings of Oprah Winfrey.
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker


Selling Shaker is the first title a new series focused on the 'politics of value' and the 'value of politics' in art and art history. Under the editorship of Professor Jonathan Harris this new series will publish work of global interest by both younger scholars and established authors with international reputations.
Selling Shaker: The Promotion of Shaker Design in theTwentieth Century, discusses, with a good deal of detailed analysis and some fine mordant humor, the slow process by which Shakerism continues to creep into the American marketplace, as Mother Ann's purities become the playthings of Oprah Winfrey.' Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

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