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Dance Fans
Dance Fans

Dance Fans

Datec. 1870
DimensionsOverall (A): 13 3/4 × 21 × 1 1/2 in. (34.9 × 53.3 × 3.8 cm) Overall (B): 14 × 20 × 1 1/2 in. (35.6 × 50.8 × 3.8 cm)
Object numberT0229a-b
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextDance fans are usually used as pairs in dances. These dance fans are also rattles - the face on each lifts off to reveal a hollowed area containing small pebbles. The dancers’ body movements, their manipulations of the masks and the masks’ rattles created a highly dramatic presentation.
Exhibition History"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.

Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.

American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection, Mitchell Gallery, St John's College, Annapolis, MD, February 28, 2020 - April 26, 2020.
ProvenanceCollected in a Jesuit missionary in western Alaska, 1870 or 1886l Diocese of Wheeling; Wheeling, West Virgina; Pacific Northwest Indian Center, Spokane, Washington; Robert L. Stolper, New York City and Munich, Germany; Andre Nasser, New York City
BibliographyFurst, Peter and Jill Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli, 1982, p.150, pl.134, Private Collection.

"The 100 Top Collectors in America." Art & Antiques. March 1996, p.101.

Vincent, Gilbert T. "The Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art." The World of Tribal Arts, Vol.II, No.4, (Winter 1995-96): 36.

Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.89.

Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.433.

Fognell, Eva. “Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection.” Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p.166-167.

Fognell, Eva. “Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection.” American Indian Art Magazine 36, no. 4 (Autumn 2011), p. 77, fig. 3.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 490.
On View
Not on view
Dance Fans
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5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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