This richly illustrated talk will be delivered jointly by two leading experts within the field of handheld fans: Hélène Alexander MBE (Founder/Director, The Fan Museum) and Jacob Moss (Curator, The Fan Museum). The speakers will highlight different parts of the Museum’s extensive collections of East Asian fans and show a variety of traditional and export fans manufactured in China and Japan and dating from the early 18th century onward.

The Speakers

Hélène Alexander, MBE has been The Fan Museum’s Director since its inception more than thirty years ago. She was born in Alexandria, Egypt and educated at the Lycée Français d’Alexandrie. Having studied with Vera Beck and Giovanni Sebasti, she specialised for a diploma in theatrical design at the Central School of Art and Design, London. She holds a degree in History of Art from London University and has been associated with the Victoria and Albert Museum where she worked for 13 years as a volunteer in the textile department. She has assembled one of the most comprehensive collections of fans in the world; and it is this collection upon which The Fan Museum was founded.

Jacob Moss, MA joined The Fan Museum in 2010, having completed a Post Graduate degree in Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion. As the Museum’s curator, his responsibilities vary enormously from helping to plan and deliver exhibitions and events to designing the Museum’s publicity materials and researching the collections. In 2019 he joined The Arts Society Directory of Lecturers and offers a variety of richly illustrated talks covering different aspects of the fan’s multi-layered history.

Programme

Time: 7.00pm - 8.00pm HK time (11.00am UK time)

Venue: Online via Zoom. Please sign up to receive the link

Admission: Free of charge. Please register your attendance in advance

Booking: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk to register your attendance