Exhibit: Hand Fans: Historical Perspective
Location: Fletcher Library, Third Floor Glass Display
Available: Through December 2009, during normal library hours
This small show will be presented in three parts:
September 15th – October 14th Hispanic Heritage Fans
October 15th – November 14th American World Fair Fans
November 15th – December 14th International Exhibition Fans
All fans are displayed by kind permission of Ms. Marjorie Moote and friends.
Scepters of Feminine Beauty to the Ancient Greeks, deflectors of negative chi for the Ancient Chinese, the likelihood of fans having been used since the dawn of humanity is very strong. Fans waving cool breezes against the heat of the day, wafting fires into flame, distracting insects, instruments of the complex language of love in theatre and life, in gamesmanship, and even in warfare, many societies have turned to the hand fan for a variety of uses.
Silks, fine linens, peacock feathers, leaves, paper, exotic woods and animal shells, vinyl and plastics, fan materials might provide an interesting and varied research topic in itself. Tutankhamen’s tomb included fans embossed with precious metals and gems indicating the symbolic majesty and authority of Egypt. From the Oriental silks used by the Greeks before Christian times, to the vellum and stiff cloth of Middle Age church fans, materials expressed the times, values and uses of the deceptively simple fan.
The mechanical operation of hand held fans has a complex history, too. Closed or open, showing the back or front, covering the face, or mouth, or used to indicate pushing or pulling, the language of fan operation is also complex and evocative. True folding fans were most likely first seen in the Western World in Italy, imported from the Far East by Venetian traders. Metal contraptions were used generations ago by warriors in the East, but versions were still in use in military engagements last century. Simple, sometimes non-folding, fans have often been used to advertise products, events and exhibitions, and the fan has become a design element in itself, in three-dimensional architecture, landscape, and two-dimensional visual arts. The period of the sixteenth century French court provides many examples. Louis XIV courtiers would never experience a day without fans as an essential accessory and fashionable accoutrement.
Fans have often been used as gifts, especially to monarchs. Queen Elizabeth I was an avid fan, of fans. Her collection was probably large and fabulous, and apparently dominant. The etiquette of fan language dictated that fans must remain closed in the presence of the monarch, which led to the guard sticks (the ends of the fan) becoming more and more elaborately decorated, perhaps to determine individual status.
The hand fan is a complex and beautiful artistic tool.
Image information: Chicago Hand Fan from the 1893 Columbia Exposition