Stillness and Light

Henry Plummer

Description

2009 ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award, Gold Medal, Architecture

Shaker buildings have long been admired for their simplicity of design and sturdy craftsmanship, with form always following function. Over the years, their distinctive physical characteristics have invited as much study as imitation. Their clean, unadorned lines have been said to reflect core Shaker beliefs such as honesty, integrity, purity, and perfection. In this book, Henry Plummer focuses on the use of natural light in Shaker architecture, noting that Shaker builders manipulated light not only for practical reasons of illumination but also to sculpt a deliberately spiritual, visual presence within their space. Stillness and Light celebrates this subtly beautiful aspect of Shaker innovation and construction, captured in more than 100 stunning photographs.

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Shaker Light—Building a State of Grace

1. Simplicity—Pristine Light
Monotone Mass
Pure White Cavity
Framed Whiteness
Between Wood and Plaster
Wooden Cavern
2. Order—Focused Light
Mesmerizing Window
Incantation
Concentric Tonalities
Double Helix
Twin Skylights
Flying Staircase
Tiered Skylights
3. Luminosity—Inner Light
Maximum Fenestration
Interior Shutters
White Kentucky Limestone
White-Painted Stonework
White on White
Yellow Light
Lustrous Wood
Clasped Light
Attic Dormer
Cupola
4. Equality—Shared Light
Transom Window
Interior Window
Double Window
Enfilade of Openings
Lattice of Light
5. Time—Cyclic Light
Shadow Play on Limestone
Spectral Colors
Tree Shadows
Splashes of Sun
Coexisting Times States
Golden Cast
Revolving Light and Color
Crossfire of Sun I
Crossfire of Sun II
Light Orchestration

Bibliography

Sujets

• Photographie Créative
• Architecture
• History
• General
• Religion
• General officer
• History of architecture
• architectural history

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 11 août 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253007780
• Langue: English

Extrait

STILLNESS & LIGHT
The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture
Henry Plummer
INDIANA  UNIVERSITY  PRESS   BLOOMINGTON  ·  INDIANAPOLIS
This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
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© 2009 by Henry Plummer All rights reserved
 
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
 
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
 
Manufactured in China
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 
Plummer, Henry, [date]
Stillness and light : the silent eloquence of Shaker architecture / Henry Plummer.
      p.       cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35362-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Shaker architecture. 2. Light in architecture. I. Title.
NA710.P59 2009
720.88'2898—dc22
2008051743
 
1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10 09
TO THE MEMORY OF
Minor White
TEACHER AND FRIEND

For Patty
WHO MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO DREAM

God is a Fountain of perfect light.
—Mother Ann Lee
 
The light which is established in the heavens or invisible world, is closely connected with the light which is established on earth; and they who walk in the light which is manifest on earth, are compassed about by those who walk in the same light, although in the invisible world.
—Shaker medium Paulina Bates, 1849
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION: Shaker Light ~ Building a State of Grace
1 SIMPLICITY ~ PRISTINE LIGHT
monotone mass
pure white cavity
framed whiteness
between wood & plaster
wooden cavern
2 ORDER ~ FOCUSED LIGHT
mesmerizing window
incantation
concentric tonalities
double helix
twin skylights
flying staircase
tiered skylights
3 LUMINOSITY ~ INNER LIGHT
maximum fenestration
interior shutters
white kentucky limestone
white-painted stonework
white on white
yellow light
lustrous wood
clasped light
attic dormer
cupola
4 EQUALITY ~ SHARED LIGHT
transom window
interior window
double window
enfilade of openings
lattice of light
5 TIME ~ CYCLIC LIGHT
shadow play on limestone
spectral colors
tree shadows
splashes of sun
coexisting time states
golden cast
revolving light & color
crossfire of sun I
crossfire of sun II
light orchestration
 
Bibliography

Preface
T o try to come to grips with a subject as elusive yet marvelous as the treatment of daylight in Shaker architecture, I have drawn upon two complementary media—writing and photography. Words examine ideas and thoughts, observations and analyses, about Shaker light, while images present the phenomena themselves, as personally encountered on repeated visits to Shaker sites. It is with this in mind that the photographs in this book are intended not as textual illustrations, but rather to form their own mode of inquiry, one that tries to carefully examine a metaphysical aspect of architecture whose significance lies, to a large extent, beyond the domain of words.
Of course it has been impossible to photograph Shaker architecture as a living culture, for the inhabitants have died out in all but one remaining, yet extraordinary village at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Nevertheless, the Shakers still speak through the spaces they made, and through the light that continues to grace their buildings. The restored Shaker villages surviving today no longer represent precisely how spaces appeared when their communities were active, but, as my subject is neither the material culture nor daily lives of Shakers, these exquisite shells—still possessing that “indescribable air of purity” and “shining with the brilliancy of reflected light” that were observed in them two centuries ago—offer ideal settings in which to explore the quality and play of natural light as it alters the look of Shaker space.

Acknowledgments
F rom the outset I would like to thank Linda Oblack, editor at Indiana University Press, who responded to my initial inquiry with great enthusiasm and support, and has continued to provide enormous help in the conception and development of this book. My thanks also to Miki Bird for her careful editing of the text, and to Pamela Rude for a book design wonderfully attuned to the subject matter.
For their gracious assistance in making this book possible, especially the prolonged photography that was undertaken over various seasons during the past twenty years, but concentrated primarily between 2004 and 2008, I would like to thank: Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill (Kentucky), Shakertown at South Union (Kentucky), Shaker Heritage Society at Watervliet (New York), the Darrow School (formerly Mt. Lebanon Shaker Village, New York), Hancock Shaker Village (Massachusetts), Canterbury Shaker Village (New Hampshire), Enfield Shaker Museum (New Hampshire), and the United Shaker Society at Sabbathday Lake (Maine). For their personal assistance, and at times consultation or accompaniment, on numerous visits, I want to thank: Larrie Curry, Philip McIntosh, and Georgie Riddell at Pleasant Hill; Tommy Hines at South Union; Starlyn D'Angelo at Watervliet; Christian Goodwillie and Laura Wolf at Hancock; Nancy Wolf at the Darrow School; Funi Burdick, Tom Johnson, and Elizabeth Pappas at Canterbury; Arthur Gagnon at Enfield; and Sister Francis, Brother Arnold, and Leonard Brooks at Sabbathday Lake. Several individuals were indispensable in making it possible to witness the magic of Shaker light at twilit hours—Leonard Brooks, Christian Goodwillie, and Philip McIntosh—who cheerfully opened buildings up at the extreme hours of dawn and dusk, often in the dark, and patiently sat through hours of photography in dim light.
Several research awards contributed immeasurably to this project, including grants from the Campus Research Board, and the College of Fine and Applied Arts, at the University of Illinois. For these, I would like to thank David Chasco, Director of the School of Architecture, and Robert Graves, Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts.
For his gift of photography, and insight into the human spirit, I owe a lifelong debt of gratitude to Minor White, from whom I first learned to see myself as well as another, more evocative reality through the lens of a camera.
Above all I thank my wife, Patty, companion and partner on all my journeys to Shaker sites, from Kentucky to Maine, who filled these travels with love and good spirits, and willingly shared her always remarkable insights and perceptions—without her this book would never have been.
INTRODUCTION SHAKER LIGHT ~ BUILDING A STATE OF GRACE
The magnificent craftsmanship of the Shakers, who for two centuries were America's most successful utopian society, gave visible form to a firm belief that usefulness and holiness are one and the same. There was no separation between practical and sacred values in this evangelical sect, which reached its height in 1840 with nearly six thousand members in eighteen communities, set in rural and isolated locations from Maine to Kentucky. 1 Perhaps the purest expression of their unique way of living, in which down-to-earth common sense is permeated with rigorous faith, is the exquisite functional beauty of their architecture. A twofold striving for perfection, epitomized in the Shaker maxim, “put your hands to work and your hearts to God,” was manifested in everything they built—from a door to a window, a stair to a railing, a wall to a roof. Underlying this double vision was a desire to live in two different worlds—spiritual and natural—at the same time, and with equal intensity, for as Shakers believed, “heaven and earth are threads of one loom.” 2
Beyond its solid outer form, as simple and handsome as it is, Shaker architecture displays another, more elusive dimension where utility and theology merge—a pragmatic, yet also sublime treatment of natural light. Although Shakers themselves were reticent about explaining this preoccupation, their buildings exhibit a love and care for managing light that is unique in American architecture. 3 This mastery ranged from maximizing the penetration of daylight into buildings, to ethereal effects of atmosphere conducive to the spiritual life, suggesting architectural concerns that go well beyond the physical world.
While good natura