Saturday, February 4, 2017

Painted Fans

Fan - with inscription
Russia
1886
enamel on silk satin, ivory sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Yachts on the Gulf of Finland
Russia
1879
watercolor on vellum, tortoiseshell sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Lilies
Russia
1903
watercolor on cotton, wooden sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

"When we talk about the 'need' for a certain kind of object, it is a good thing to realize that there is no necessary connection between the level or type of need and the quality of the design.  This is an important point in any discussion of design and it is worth expanding.  Let us say that the 'need' in question concerns a vessel for holding liquids.  The response to the need  a designed and manufactured object  may be a perfectly adequate container with no aesthetic interest, or it may be a thing preserved through the ages as an incomparable work of art.  In other words, functional sufficiency is no guarantee whatever of good design  it is merely the floor below which a design cannot go without failing to serve its purpose.  I think it is important to realize this because there is a widespread misconception today regarding the role of function, and a very general tendency to overemphasize its significance.  And just as the role of function is not necessarily a major one, so with the type or level of the need."

 from Problems of Design by George Nelson (New York : Whitney Library of Design, 1957)

Fan - Violets, hydrangeas
France
1890s
gouache on silk gauze, mother-of-pearl sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Spray of flowers
France
1850s
gouache on moiré silk, sandalwood sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - White lace
Europe
ca. 1900
Alençon lace, tortoiseshell sticks, diamonds
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Black lace
France
ca. 1860-80
Chantilly lace, mother-of-pearl sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Lace appliqué 
France
ca. 1900
silk tulle, lace, tortoiseshell sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Feather-edging
France
ca. 1855-65
painted silk, marabou feathers, ivory sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Mask between swags
France
1770s
gouache on vellum, ivory sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Amatory scenes
France
1880s
colored design printed on paper, ivory sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Shepherds and Shepherdesses
France
ca. 1845-50
gouache on vellum, mother-of-pearl sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - Orchids
France
1899
watercolor and gouache on vellum, tortoiseshell sticks
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Fan - brisé style - Lilies of the valley
Austria
ca. 1865-70
gouache on mother-of-pearl sticks, wood
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg