Description

A fan designed by Walter Crane (1845-1915), with twenty spokes decorated by people in social, artistic and musical circles.

Early photographs of the fan show 13 spokes. 1 On the recto, as shown in these photographs, Whistler's was among the first eight designs, all of which showed women, mostly heads in profile. Five of the spokes were still blank. On the verso at this stage were more varied designs, including a windmill and a dancing girl by Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898). In its final form, there were twenty spokes and the order was re-arranged. The outermost spoke bore a painting of a crane, the signature of Walter Crane (1845-1915). A ribbon was wound through the spokes, just below the pictures. Most of the spokes had pen decoration but were pen and ink and some merely signatures. The order of the spokes was altered from the time when the photographs in the Whistler collection were taken, probably to give a more coherent and effective rhythm. 2

Dancing girl, on a fan, Private Collection

Contributors to the spokes of the fan included Walter Crane (1845-1915), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), George du Maurier (1834-1896), Charles Edward Hallé (1846-1919), John Everett Millais (1829-1896), Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898), Frederick Leighton (1830-1896), Laura Alma-Tadema and Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), Walford Graham Robertson (1867-1948), George Henry Boughton (1833-1905), and Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902).