Sunday 13 October 2013

Art Nouveau & Art Deco fans in Brussels


On the occasion of the Art Nouveau/Art Deco Biennale, the last weekend of October 2013 will show the Art Nouveau and Art Deco fans of  Margaretha Mazura for the first time. The "Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgiens" opens its Brussels residence "Hotel de Brouckere" for this purpose, a building co-designed by Henry Van de Velde who celebrates this year his 150th anniversary. The fans are put into relation to architecture and other applied arts, a typical postulate of Art Nouveau whose ambition was the "Gesamtkunstwerk" that penetrates all levels of daily life. Van de Velde himself designed at least one fan (in the collection of the Karlsruhe Museum) and held a conference on the fan in 1905 in Berlin. There, he predicts the decline of the use of the fan - a prophetic view despite of some highlights of advertising fans and ostrich feather fans throughout the twenties and thirties. More info: mm[at]e-accelerator.eu


Two-pager on Art Nouveau/Art Deco fans: Download here (15 MB)

Faksimile of the conference on the fan held by Henry Van de Velde 1905 in Berlin (Thanks to Thomas DeLeo for sending me the pdf!): Download here (6 MB)






Advertising fan by E. Gendrot for The Carlton Hotel, London



Book cover taking up the theme of a female head with hair entangled with flowers

Aldo Dente's Court Fans in Dozza


The collection of Aldo Dente consists (amongst many others) of authors' fans and fans from Europe's aristocracy. At Dozza, 100 of his fans were shown in 2013. The interview with Aldo "100 ventagli di corte d'autore" gives an interesting insight into his collection and the exhibition, amongst them fans once owned by Sisi, Empress of Austria and commemorative fans about Mascagni.



Aldo Dente with a handscreen made in Spa, Belgium
Detail of the fan of Margherita de Savoia that she used at her marriage with Umberto I in 1868, (c) A. Dente