March 26, I’m after some new inspiration, something new to me to learn about, and I haven’t been to the Met solo in years- going with my kids is one of the least relaxing parenting experiences I have had (the last time we went I took them to the Egypt exhibit on one of New York’s hottest days and they spent the whole time asking to go to the brutalist playground right outside the window…. reader, it was 90 degrees).
The thing about The Metropolitan Museum of Art is that no matter how many times I go I always find something surprising and it’s almost never the thing I’ve gone there to see. So with that in mind let me tell you about the utterly charming ‘Fanmania’ exhibit. I discovered this room on my way to ‘Art of the Arab Lands’ (a firm favorite of mine) - the blurb on the wall describes this as an investigation into why avant-garde artists incorporated fans into their work and sheds light on themes of gender, courtship, consumerism and appropriation.
This is a small exhibit of about 75 pieces in total - drawn from all over The Met collection, I love it when museums do this - ‘shop from what you already have’ and then find a common thread, it gives you a glimpse into the variety of what this incredible museum holds through the lens of one idea.
Aesthetically there were many pieces that caught my eye - I'm drawn to pattern and colour so the Hiroshige woodblock from 1840 got my attention straight away. I don’t even think it was designed to be a three dimensional fan - it just featured one in a composition, but i’m a HUGE fan of (sorry….. the puns write themselves) of a Japanese chrysanthemum flower.
Next up I chose a British folding fan (I might be biased…) depicting a mask -from around 1745. It made me giggle - it’s the period version of the sideways eyes emoji, you can just imagine how the owner (wearer?) would have looked with her (making a WILD assumption here) eyes peeping through. The watercolour on parchment was exquisite and I loved that the description explained how the fan was a kind of ‘kill two birds with one stone’ solution - allowing the owner to attend a masquerade, obviously wearing a mask AND holding a fan all whilst receiving ‘the news of the day’ - gossip to you and me. Brilliant, love a multipurpose piece of design.
Another fan that got my attention was a French fan from 1903, featuring a cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert. The manufacturer (Eventails Choumara) specialised in fans featuring celebrity performers and this piece was for the annual Lawn Tennis Ball and Cotillion at the Grand Hotel Engadiner Kulm. Again - sticking with this idea of dual purpose I loved that this fan would have also been used as a dance card and the owner could use the tiny pencil to note down her dance partners- a feature I learnt that wasn’t even particularly new, it has also been seen on fans from the 18th century. Still - anything that comes with tiny stationary baked in will always get my vote.
Lastly I’ve picked out a fan from Fernando Coustellier (dated somewhere around 1816-1830) - it features a scene from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville which debuted in Paris in 1819. The fan is stunning in detail and features a tiny convex mirror on the end of the ivory - the exhibit politely suggests “it might have been useful for an operagoer desiring to discretely check her surroundings” - a feature I’d welcome in any modern day accessories. How charming. How useful. (insert sideways emoji eyes)
Utagawa Kunisada 1786-1864, woodblock print
Utagawa Hiroshima 1797-1858, woodblock
Fans of the Period, trade cards for Allen&Ginter 1889