Sarah Bates (November 29, 1792 – 1881) was an American Shaker artist. Born in

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, Bates was the daughter of Elder

Issachar Bates Issachar Bates (January 29, 1758 – March 17, 1837) was among the most prolific poets and songwriters among the early 19th century Shakers. Several of his songs, poems, and ballads are known outside of the Shaker movement, including "Rights of ...

, and entered Watervliet Shaker Village upon his conversion in 1808. Three years later she moved to the

Mount Lebanon Shaker Society Mount Lebanon Shaker Society, also known as New Lebanon Shaker Society, was a communal settlement of Shakers in New Lebanon, New York. The earliest converts began to "gather in" at that location in 1782 and built their first meetinghouse in 1785 ...

where she was to remain for the rest of her life. She was trained as a schoolteacher and "tailoress", and in both pursuits was associated with Polly Anne Reed, with whom she was a member of the First Order of the Church. She was likely a scribe for her community, and is known to have composed several songs as well. She also wrote at least one essay, and was active for a time as a deaconess. Her sister Betsey would become an Eldress at New Lebanon. Bates has been posited, by Daniel W. Patterson, as the creator of seventeen gift drawings produced during the Shaker

Era of Manifestations The Era of Manifestations was a period from 1837 to the mid-1850s when Shakers came under a spiritual revival marked by visions and ecstatic experiences among the followers. They expressed their visions in song, dance and drawings. Overview Th ...

. The case which he makes is circumstantial, based largely on his analysis of membership rolls of the First Order of the Church. The influence of Polly Reed can be seen on Bates' work, especially in the precision and elegance of its calligraphy and drawing. Patterson points to certain stylistic points as hallmarks of hers as well, including the shape of the dove which often appears in her drawings and the crosshatching used to delineate the surfaces of tree trunks and tables. Several of Bates' most complex drawings are "sacred sheets", gatherings of symbolic language that draw much of their

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

, such as Masonic symbols and images from gravestones and needlework samplers, from the world beyond the borders of the Shaker community. Bates has been described as a "seminal figure" in the field of gift drawings. An untitled drawing by Bates, in pen and brush and colored inks over

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, is owned by the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin F ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Sarah 1792 births 1881 deaths 19th-century American artists 19th-century American women artists People from Washington County, New York People from New Lebanon, New York Artists from New York (state) Shaker members