Seduced at The fan Museum

SEDUCED! FANS AND THE ART OF ADVERTISING
is the exhibition currently showing at

The Fan Museum, Greenwich.

These fans date from 'La Belle Epoque',
'The Beautiful Era'.
'Dating from the late Victorian to the Edwardian era' (in England).
which doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

We'll stick with, 'La Belle Epoque',
when advertising fans came into their own
with the "birth of modern consumer culture".

Fans became bill-boards for advertising.

Some were a bit like the classifieds in the back pages of the newspapers.

Others produced by commercial artists,

designed to make the most of the shape of the fan.

There are fans created for luxury brands.

Champagne anyone?

Fans serving as theatre programmes.

This fan was designed by Francisque Poulbot,

who lived and sketched life in Monmartre, Paris.

Some adverts are not so subtle.

This is the kind of fan I would have loved playing with as a kid.

There's something magical about opening that 'fanning out' tissue-paper thing.

It wouldn't have lasted very long in my hands.

But I don't suppose any of these fans were designed in perpetuity.

But they have been kept, in perfect condition, some for 100 years

to be admired by the ad-weary public of the 21st century.

To remind us of times gone by.

Their power is not so much now in the advertising,

but in their beauty,

and the sense of nostalgia.

"Now, I just fancy a glass of champagne!"

Seduced? At the Fan Museum?

Seduced! Fans and the Art of Advertising

is on at The fan Museum in Greenwich

until 28th Sept 2014.

Details on their website.

Teignmouth Museum: Wish you were here!

I genuinely didn't know where to start with this blog post about

Teignmouth Museum in Devon.

That's because it has an amazing collection,

packed full of objects

telling such varied stories

about the history of a relatively small seaside town.

I've mentioned Teignmouth before.

Click here to read the story of this prison window and the french sailors

who disappeared with a trading schooner during the Napoleonic wars.

So what to write about the museum this time?

Well during our visit to Teignmouth, we had amazing weather,

proper seaside weather,

so we did what people have done for over a hundred years when they go to the seaside...

We went on the pier,

and played on the amusement machines.

We should have needed an old penny to play The Clock,

but very kindly, the museum lets you play them for free.

The only snag is,

they don't pay any winnings.

If you haven't played the machines before,

it's OK, as these Victorian slot machines give very clear instructions.

Some machines are designed to appeal to a very specific audience,

the 'Grip Test',

testing the grip of men from a variety of different professions,

 from bankers to farmers.

I used two hands and didn't even make it to a banker.
Our resident engineer did manage to prove himself, as having the average engineer's grip!

 These machines are on loan from the current owners of the Teignmouth Pier,

which has been in the Brenner family for the last 60 years.

The pier, which opened in 1867, still had a few vintage machines until recently,

when earlier this year, storms hit the South coast, damaged the pier,

and 90% of their machines were lost, some through the floor.

We watched, and put on, a Punch & Judy show.
I say "we", I watched, eleven year olds performed.
The cocodile ate everybody, including Mr Punch.

We swam in the sea.

Yes, even me, a fair-weather swimmer,

not just the fool-hardy kids.

We had ice-creams.

The 'penny lick'.

 You can't tell from this photo, but that glass cup was smaller than an egg-cup!

They really do mean, "small ball of ice cream".

We went to the carnival on the Den

Today's programme cost £1.50.

We bought souvenirs.

We didn't pinch cutlery from local hotels.

Hopefully this was donated.

Teignmouth was developed as a resort in the mid 18th century
and seaside fun hasn't changed much,

the promenade, red sand, the Ness and the pier (a later addition in the 19th century).

'Sunny South Devon',

 and it was!

Teignmouth Museum is a great local museum with so many local stories.

It is housed in the Teign Heritage Centre,

open Tuesdays to Saturdays.

Details on their website.

It's not all fun and games on the beach.

Teignmouth has stories of war, travel, claims to fame,

Brunel and the Great Western Railway

and the longest timber bridge in England.

More to come.

Wish you were here!

The Fan museum: Useful & beautiful

 On one of the hottest days of the year,

I went with a friend to The Fan Museum in Greenwich.
We couldn't use them unfortunately,
only look,
and learn more about fans.

There was a lot to look at.

Painted fans,

the only known fan leaf by Gaugin, 1887,

and by Sickert, 1889, painted on fine kid leather.

We saw how fans were made.

Historically some questionnable materials were used...

...ivory,

...and turtle shell.

Shells were also used to make fans,

mother of pearl and abalone.

There are fans from around the world.

Mozambique (in the centre),

China,

Togo.

Those countries can get pretty hot.

"Wonder if today London might be hotter than them?"

Here the great debate about 'form' and 'function',

'useful or beautiful',

continues...

Beautiful? No.

Useful? Yes.

"If only these weren't behind glass."

Beautiful?
The galleries, particularly that yellow and grey paintwork.

Useful?
"Award-winning ladies toilets".
They are very proud of them.

Magazines, well extracts from magazines, are displayed on the back of the toilet doors.

Something to read on the loo.

'The Fan'  "...and is just plain-old needed when it's 30 degrees in London."

The Fan Museum

has over 4,000 fans in its collection.

They can't all be on display at the same time,

so to give us many opportunities to see all these fans, 

the fan exhibition in the gallery upstairs is changed several times a year.

Currently, the exhibition is,
Seduced! Fans and the Art of Advertising.
On until 28th Sept 2014.
Coming soon in my next blog post.

The fans above should all be around whenever you happen to visit in the future
as they are part of their permanent collection.
As for the Gold certificate for their Ladies' loos,
visit in 2015 to find out if they have retained that prestigious award.