FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2002
The Museum of Texas Tech University is proud to offer the exhibition
Cool Breezes: Handheld Fans in 20th Century American Advertising,
Folk Art, and Fashion, on view from October 20 through December
1, 2002. The Museum is located at 4th Street and Indiana Avenue.
Before air conditioners started cooling the country, Americans fanned themselves when they got hot. Handheld fans could be meticulously crafted or mass-produced, but everybody had them and used them. Cool Breezes: Handheld Fans in 20th Century American Advertising, Folk Art, and Fashion introduces exhibition visitors to the world of handheld fans and to the roles fans have played in the everyday lives of Americans. Until now, very little attention has been paid to historic and contemporary fans used by the general public.
Cool Breezes explores fans as common objects in American popular culture and presents a wide range of fan genres. For example, paper advertising fans, which gained popularity in the late 19th century, were heavily used in the decades before air conditioning, and today are still distributed by the millions every year. Fans in this exhibition advertise a bank, auto body shop, outdoor summer festival, gubernatorial candidate, credit card, and more.
Cardboard advertising fans, often from funeral homes, earned a place in African-American tradition as they were once ubiquitous in southern churches. Fancy fans of silk, ivory, and other luxurious materials were sometimes even carried to the altar by the bride in lieu of a bouquet.
Cool Breezes displays large, sturdy folding fans built for daily use, as well as fragile and elaborately decorated fans that served as fashion accessories and flirtation tools as much as movers of air. The exhibition also explores fans as part of a visually rich design tradition.
Cool Breezes places 20th century American fans within a larger historical and global context. Representative fans and accompanying text introduce the Asian and European fan traditions, from which US fans evolved, as well as the oldest tradition fire fans, used both historically and currently by indigenous peoples worldwide. The exhibition is curated by Joyce Cheney, an independent scholar with a strong interest in textiles, folk art, and popular culture. Cool Breezes: Handheld Fans in 20th Century American Advertising, Folk Art, and Fashion continues Ms. Cheney's examination of seemingly ordinary objects to discover the living history they contain, both the creativity that went into their making and the human stories they tell.
The exhibition is circulated by ExhibitsUSA, Kansas City, MO. For more information about Cool Breezes, or to request special assistance, call the Museum Education office at (806)742-2432, or email to museum.education@ttu.edu. Stay current with Museum exhibitions and programs at www.museum.ttu.edu.