We Sit Together: Utopian Benches from the Shakers to the Separatists of Zoar
New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013.
First Edition. Paperback.
First Printing.
Publisher's description:
Whether for companionship, religious congress, protest, seating, or comfort, sitting communally remains one of the most powerful and prevalent of human social activities. This simple act held special significance in numerous utopian communities that emerged in 19th-century America and was given physical presence in the form of a variety of styles of wooden benches. Fascinated by these expressions of harmony and equality, British artist Francis Cape crafted meticulous recreations and measured drawings of remaining examples."
We Sit Together presents twenty-one of Cape's reconstructed benches drawn from twelve utopian communities, active from 1732 to the present. The communal societies represented include: Ephrata Cloister, The Shakers, Snow Hill Nunnery, Harmony Society, Society of Separatists of Zoar, Oneida Perfectionists, Community of True Inspiration in Amana, Hutterites, Rose Valley, Bruderhof (Woodcrest Community), Twin Oaks, and Camphill Village Kimberton Hills.
Introduced by curator Richard Torchia and featuring photographs and handmade drawings.
Item #902611ISBN: 9781616891596
6-5/8 x 8-1/2", stiff wrappers with white print on brown spine and brown print on pictorial front and back panels, folding flaps, foreword, introduction, 95pp, bibliography, 14pp of photographs of installations in color.
Tiny bit of wear to extreme tips, tight, clean, fine.
Price: $40.00