Collection: The Fan Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  A collection of fans, fan leaves and associated material numbering over 2,300 objects. The collection comprises largely of donations from members of the public. Numerous bequests, gifts and objects acquired as a result of grant assistance from awarding bodies such as the HLF augment the collection. Ownership of TFM Collection remains with The Fan Museum Trust and, therefore, all objects are accessioned into the Museum’s accession register and form The Fan Museum’s permanent collection (refer to TFM Documentation Policy for further information regarding accessioning procedures).

  Due to the nature of the acquisitioning processes outlined above, TFM Collection has developed somewhat more organically than that of the HA Collection and, in this respect, TFM Collection is considered to be particularly strong in certain areas whilst less representative in others. For example, whereas the genre of advertising is extremely well represented within TFM Collection, high-end 19th century fans, such as those manufactured by the leading fan-makers of the time (Alexandre, Duvelleroy, Kees, etc) are less well-represented.

  TFM Collection contains a number of important works, including ‘A Landscape in Martinique’ (a design for a fan leaf painted by Paul Gauguin), a fan painted by Walter Sickert (believed to be the only one of its kind), and a rare 17th century ‘extended’ fan leaf – acquired with grant assistance from the National Art Collections Fund – which depicts the 20th birthday celebrations of King Louis XIV’s son, the ‘Grand Dauphin.’

  Both the HA Collection and TFM Collection are augmented by a diverse range of supporting materials, including montures (sets of sticks and guards), fan boxes, fan making tools, raw materials (ivory tusks, turtle/oyster shells etc) a small amount of costume, and a library, periodical, exhibition catalogue and image archive. The Museum also contains a further small study and handling collection which is made up of objects not considered suitable for accessioning. Objects within the study collection are largely donations and the donors are made aware of how they will be used by the Museum. In supplementing the core collections of fans and fan leaves with additional supporting material, the subject of fans and fan-making is further contextualised and situated within wider socio-cultural and art/dress-historical frameworks, thus feeding back to the Museum’s mission statement of making the subject increasingly relevant and accessible to a wider audience.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2012

  Licence: CC BY-NC