Fan Design with Cats and Sunflowers

ca. 1885–90

Not on view

The most prolific of the avant-garde artists to take up the fan, Guérard produced more than three hundred examples. His first solo exhibition, held in late 1879 at the offices of La Vie moderne, consisted entirely of fans. His interest in Japanese art certainly initiated him to the form, but his playful, often witty designs are eclectic in their subjects and styles. The upright cat motif featured here carries an Egyptian resonance, recalling the protective goddess Bastet—appropriate for a fan, which could be used as a kind of shield. Identical and linked, the repeated cats are also reminiscent of a cut-out paper-doll chain, an art form that, like the fan, reveals itself through unfolding.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Fan Design with Cats and Sunflowers
Artist: Henri Charles Guérard (French, Paris 1846–1897 Paris)
Date: ca. 1885–90
Medium: Pen and black ink over black chalk or graphite, gouache and gold leaf on prepared (stiffened) patterned silk
Dimensions: 12 1/16 × 23 3/4 in. (30.6 × 60.4 cm) [semicircle]
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Robert Tuggle and Paul Jeromack, 2015
Object Number: 2015.744.1
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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In the same medium

From the same time and place

Self-Portrait, Henri Charles Guérard French, Etching with roulette and mezzotint; eighth state of eight — Self-Portrait
Henri Charles Guérard
ca. 1890

Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French — Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century

Two Angels Flying (recto); God the Father Seated in the Clouds and a Sketch of a Figure Flying (verso), Cosmas Damian Asam German, Red chalk, brush and brown wash (recto); red chalk, brush and brown wash, graphite, heightened with white gouache (verso) — Two Angels Flying (recto); God the Father Seated in the Clouds and a Sketch of a Figure Flying (verso)
Cosmas Damian Asam
ca. 1720

Frontispiece to "Eaux-fortes de Guérard, Collection de Mr. S. P. [Samuel Putnam] Avery, New York", Henri Charles Guérard French, Black chalk — Frontispiece to "Eaux-fortes de Guérard, Collection de Mr. S. P. [Samuel Putnam] Avery, New York"
Henri Charles Guérard
Subject Samuel Putnam Avery Sr.
late 19th century

Osage Warrior, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin French, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American — Osage Warrior
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
1805–7

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