Duvelleroy (French, founded 1827). The Language of the Fan, late 19th century; printed ca. 1924. Printed pamphlet. Maison Duvelleroy Archive, Paris
Purchasers of fans from the London or Paris shop of Duvelleroy, a leading French fan maker in the second half of the nineteenth century, received small pamphlets detailing the so-called language of the fan. Such lexicons promoted a codified system of gestures using the fan, each corresponding to a precise message and often intended for potential suitors. Books about fans from the period historicized this coded language, citing references in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sources, and amplified a mythology that has persisted ever since.
Most of the early sources on the subject are satirical in nature. While they do not substantiate the use of a widely accepted formalized code, they do affirm that fans were understood as powerfully communicative devices in the hands of women—a source of male anxiety that was often channeled into satire. Late eighteenth-century fans printed with a “Fanology” likewise reinforced belief in a system of alphabetical semaphores through which a silent, gestural conversation could take place. Such objects, however, are better understood in the context of the myriad parlor games proposed on “conversation fans,” including, for example, those printed with playful questions and answers on either side. While the idea of a secret language of the fan has captured the imaginations of many, the fan communicates primarily as an extension of body language and through social cues; its imagery and material qualities only deepen its expressive capabilities.
Further Reading
Armstrong, Nancy. A Collector’s History of Fans. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1974, pp. 180–84.
Biger, Pierre-Henri. “Vrais et faux langages de l’éventail.” In European Fans in the 17th & 18th Centuries: Images, Accessories, and Instruments of Gesture, edited by Miriam Volmert and Danijela Bucher, pp. 23–39. Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2020.
Green, Bertha de Vere. “The Language of the Fan.” In A Collector’s Guide to Fans over the Ages. London: Frederick Muller, 1975, pp. 154–61.
Hiner, Susan. “Fan Fetish: Gender, Nostalgia, and Commodification.” In Accessories to Modernity: Fashion and the Feminine in Nineteenth-Century France. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010, pp. 145–77, 237–46.
The Language of the Fan. Exh. cat. York, UK: Fairfax House, 1989, pp. 28–33.
Nicole Kitsberg, former intern in European Paintings, assisted with research on this topic.