A Sacred Sheet Sent from Holy Mother Wisdom by Her Angel of Many Signs

1843

Semantha Fairbanks and Mary Wicks

Associated Names
Mary Wicks

Artist, American, active 1843

Semantha Fairbanks

Artist, American, active c. 1843

This drawing features an array of geometric shapes and intricate line patterns arranged in an abstract manner. At the center, there's a rectangular formation with a circular pattern inside. On either side of the central shape, there are additional circular designs divided into segments, with one on the right that looks like a sun. At the top and bottom of the drawing are several vertical and horizontal lines that connect to other circular and angular forms. These forms themselves are made up of small swirling lines that look almost like cursive letters of varying sizes. The lines and shapes are drawn in dark blue on off-white paper that appears slightly wrinkled.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1970

  • Gift of Inspiration: Religious Art of the Shakers, Hancock Shaker Village, Hancock, MA, June 27 - October 15, 1970, no. 1.

2000

  • Seen and Received: The Shakers' Private Art, Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA, 2000.

2001

  • Heavenly Visions: Shaker Gift Drawings and Gift Songs, UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, Los Angeles; The Drawing Center, New York, 2001, no. 21.

Bibliography

1945

  • Andrews, Edward Deming. "Shaker Inspirational Drawings."Antiques vol. 48, no. 6 (December 1945): 338.

1962

  • Sellin, David. "Shaker Inspiration Drawings."Philadelphia Museum Bulletin. vol. LVII (Spring 1962): 98.

1969

  • Andrews, Edward Deming and Faith Andrews. _Visions of the Heavenly Sphere: A Study in Shaker Religious Art. Charlottesville, VA, 1969: 118.

1970

  • Hancock Shaker Village. Gift of Inspiration: Religious Art of the Shakers. Hancock, MA, 1970: 26.

1983

  • Patterson, Daniel W. Gift Drawing and Gift Song: A Study of Two Forms of Shaker Inspiration. Sabbathday Lake, Maine, 1983: 66-69, 85-86.

1990

  • Patterson, Daniel W. "Shaker Visionary Art."_The Magazine Antiques_vol. CXXXVI, no. 2 (February 1990): 469.

1995

  • Wertkin, Gerard C. "'Given by Inspiration: Shaker Drawings and Manuscripts in the American Society for Psychological Research."Folk Art(Spring 1995): 61.

Inscriptions

upper center verso on attached sheet: A sacred Sheet sent from Holy Mother Wisdom, by her / ... (3 lines of script) / Instrs. Semantha Fairbanks and / Mary Wicks

Wikidata ID

Q64630798

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