Fan, used in the film The Tempest (1979).

Derek Jarman was one of the most influential film makers of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. He trained as a painter, at the Slade School of Fine Art, and later worked as a set designer for opera and as the designer for Ken Russell’s film The Devils (1971).

Jarman began making his own films in 1976 with Sebastiane. In 1979, Jarman filmed William Shakespeare’s The Tempest staring Heathcote Williams as Prospero and Toyah Wilcox as Miranda. The production and costumes were designed by Yolanda Sonnabend, a prominent theatre designer and painter. Sonnabend worked closely with Wilcox on the costumes. Wilcox recalled ‘I tried to do her feminity by her being creative; wearing masks, a fan, or putting shells on the dress. I wanted her hair in plaits because she wouldn’t know how to style her hair’.

Fan, used in the film The Tempest, 1979. Circular fan with narrow bamboo handle. The fan is formed from a spiralling disc of feathers in tones of green, white, brown and pink with a circle of silver sequins at the centre. It is mounted above a slim bamboo handle which has been decorated with a hanging green and gold cotton tassel.

Given by the British Film Institute

S.4166-2015