Antiques and the Arts Book Review


Fans
By Alexander F. Tcherviakov
Parkstone Press, Bournemouth, England, 1998 pp 216, 250 color illustrations, 20 black and white, $55 hardcover.

The era of the elegant lady's fan has passed - pepper spray is more popular. So in order to see the truly remarkable examples of this craft, you must now go to a museum, perhaps the Ostankino Palace Museum near Moscow, reputed to have one of the most important collection of fans in the world. Well, if a trip to the palace is not possible, perhaps this book will do.Fans is the first in a series of publications dedicated to museum collections concentrated today in the former palaces of the Moscow region. The Ostankino Palace Museum has some 200 Russian and European fans, a collection that grown quickly from only eight examples in 1956. Most of the fans in the collection date from the second half of the Eighteenth Century, when the art of making fans reached its pinnacle. This book by Tcherviakov, an art historian at the museum, uses 250 color illustrations, detailed captions, and an introductory essay by Karl Lagerfeld to highlight the beauty of this fashion accessory and its interesting history. Dating back at least to the tenth century, B.C. in China, the fan was used in many different cultures throughout the world and has been a "fly chaser" as well as the Eighteenth Century woman's instrument of secret code. While there are many amusing tidbits in this book, there is a serious, scholarly goal behind the publication. "Unfortunately, until now, the collections of fans that are in the possession of museums, among which one often finds veritable masterpieces, have not been the object of any detailed study. They have not been recognized for their true value and their place in the national culture has not been defined," Tcherviakov writes. Due to a lack of information and interest, misinformation has abounded, he says, and notes that the book is meant to provide "the essentials of the collection, a first attempt, following the example of the collection Ostankino, to present the history of fans in Russia from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century." - By Amy D'Orio

Fans

By Alexander F. Tcherviakov