Fans on Postcards
[Translation from the German version of the Spanish text by Inmaculada Manfredi; visit the original for more fan postcards]

The multiple use of the fan is undisputed: you can whisk away flies, calm summer's heat, fan the fire, beautify the female appearance or communicate love messages.

The 19th century, full of romanticism, was of particular importance for women who slowly started to fight for their freedom and their rights. It was difficult for them to display openly their feelings. Men who wanted to court them, needed to use a symbolic language, to avoid any ambiguities that might ruin the reputation of the beloved one.

Towards the end of the 19th century, and the beginning of the 20th, some novelties entered the daily life. Communication methods were modernised, foreign innovations were taken up enthusiastically. Graphical design progressed and enabled access for many to what was shortly before only accessible by the privileged.

In these days, written contacts were of major importance. Lacking other technologies that we enjoy nowadays, letters were the only possible communication means between people. It is true that many of these letter were written "by proxy" but the content correponded faithfully to the intention of the person who dictated it.

The necessity to spread news quicker and more efficiently, together with a changing modernistic social environment, led to the creation of a new way of communication, versatile, graphically interesting and cheap: the postcard.