Fan 1700 - 1723

Curator: Isn't it fascinating how such delicate objects can whisper entire worlds? This is a decorative fan, dating from between 1700 and 1723. The fan itself is painted with watercolors and it resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Immediately, it evokes a sense of both grandeur and fragility. It’s almost as though I am glimpsing at an ancient fresco that can shatter any minute, especially with that riotous scene painted on its surface. Curator: It does, doesn’t it? It is bursting with figures—the artist has somehow managed to capture a history painting on a such a small canvas! What stories do you imagine these characters tell? Editor: Well, I am seeing many classically draped figures here... It gives off this air of a history, maybe some Biblical reference about a flight or exodus in search of liberation? All painted on a fan. There's something deeply ironic about it, about turning tools of leisure, fashion and often class divide into canvases. The contrast just heightens everything. I can only imagine those aristocratic women carrying these hand-painted social commentaries, fanning themselves away from whatever issues and gossip crossed their path! Curator: Precisely! These objects become mirrors, reflecting societal layers, with all their complex beauty and contradiction. It's not just a painting—it's a whisper of the era's soul, I suppose. I wonder, though, if its original owner saw it with the same depth we see it now. Editor: That's the question, isn’t it? Were they merely enjoying a beautiful object, ignorant of its potential subversive messages, or were they keenly aware of the statement they were making? I am thinking there were very many subtle messages in artwork back then—it would make a juicy dissertation for someone who wants to analyze these coded artworks. Curator: That makes perfect sense, I love that reflection on decoding meaning behind social behavior that goes beyond pure esthetics... Thank you for taking me there! It really got me to dream. Editor: Thank you for inviting me along! Let’s do it again, somewhere at the Met...or in another museum. Anywhere there is great art!