Shaker Secretary c. 1938

Alfred H. Smith made this Shaker Secretary, showing us an intimate and meticulous vision. I can imagine Smith, squinting at the real thing, trying to capture every nuance of the wood grain. Maybe he felt a kinship with the Shakers, their commitment to simplicity and utility resonating with his own artistic intentions. There's a quietness to the work, a sense of dedication to craft, that mirrors the Shaker aesthetic. I wonder if Smith saw this piece not just as furniture, but as a testament to a way of life, a philosophy of making and being. He probably labored over the wood color, trying to capture the particular tone and feel of each drawer and surface, and the velvety black of the desk insert. All those straight lines must have been so absorbing, he may have felt like he became part of the simple Shaker design as he made it. Painters like Smith—and me too, I guess—are in constant dialogue with the past, translating tradition into our own visual language. We take something old and make it new again.