Hannah Cohoon

Hannah Cohoon (February 1, 1788 – January 7, 1864) was an American painter born in Williamstown, Massachusetts and a member of Hancock Shaker Village. She joined that community in 1817 at the age 29. During a time of revival known as the Era of Manifestations, she produced several drawings known as "gift drawings" — artistic works made through religious inspiration. Her works have become iconic of Shaker religious expression. She died in 1864 and was buried in the cemetery of the Hancock Church Family.

Background Cohoon became a member of the Hancock Shaker Village and made "gift drawings" that recounted spiritual visitations received during the Era of Manifestations encountered by Shakers in the mid-19th century. Uncommonly for Shaker gift drawings, she signed her drawings, so that the works have been attributed to her. Cohoon had a unique style that was more abstract, simple and personal. She used impasto techniques to create texture within the drawings.

Early life Hannah Harrison was one of three girls born to Noah B. Harrison (1759–1789) and Huldah Bacon Harrison (1763–1809). She was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on February 1, 1788. Noah Harrison had been an 18-year-old drummer boy during the Revolutionary War in June and July 1777. In 1780 he was a private for a Berkshire, Massachusetts, company during the war. He died the year after Hannah was born.

Hannah's sisters were Lois and Polly, born respectively in 1784 and 1785.

Hannah had a son named Harrison and a daughter named Mariah. She became a member of the Hancock Shaker community on March 15, 1817, when she was 29, Harrison was 5 and Mariah was 3 years of age. She signed the covenant there in 1823. In 1843 she signed the Sacred Roll. Her surname for the works of art in the mid-1800s was Cohoon.

The profound experience resulted in Shakers expressing the "gifts" received from Spirit in drawings, messages and songs. Of about 200 surviving gift drawings, most were made by women who lived in Hancock Shaker Village, Massachusetts, or Lebanon, New York. One example is Gift Drawing: A Reward of True Faithfulness from Mother Lucy to Eleanor Potter by Polly Ann (Jane) Reed (1818-1881). Called "gift drawings", the works were based upon wondrous messages that they received during Spiritual visitations. and included written messages of friendship or reverence,

Key artists from the Shaker community were Cohoon, Polly Collins and Joseph Wicker. The Era of Manifestations ended when Shaker community members became embarrassed by the "emotional excesses and mystical expressions of this period." Germaine Greer, author of The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work, likened Cohoon's drawing to primitive art by Catholic artists of "an earthly paradise with trees in flower and fruit."

The tree of life has become an icon to represent Shakers. In 1996 another painting attributed to Cohoon was estimated prior to sale at Sotheby's of $250,000 to $350,000. The painting, somewhat similar to and having the same name as Tree of Light or Blazing Tree, is estimated at seven times the record amount for a Shaker drawing. It sold at Sotheby's for $299,500 to the Museum of American Folk Art in January 1997.

She also made A Little Basket Full of Beautiful Apples in 1856.

Sister Alice Smith of Hancock Shaker Village brought four gift drawings to Faith and Edward Deming Andrews, Shaker historians, by 1931. The Andrews organized an exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1935. An image of Cohoon's Tree of Life appeared in a December 1945 Antiques magazine article by Edward Deming Andrews. The Andrews used the image for the covers of Visions of Heavenly Sphere and Fruits of the Shaker Tree of Life in 1969 and 1975. The Hancock Shaker Village became a museum in 1960, and sometime after that the Andrews sold Cohoon's drawings and other gift drawings to the museum. The Whitney Museum of Art held exhibited four of Cohoon's drawings in the "American Folk Painters of Three Centuries" show in 1980. Her works were exhibited at the "Shaker — Masterworks of Utilitarian Design" show at the Katonah Gallery, New York, in 1983.

The director of the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City, Gerard C. Wertkin, said that Cohoon is "considered the pre-eminent Shaker artist" and her works "have become icons of Shaker material culture.