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Masks: Faces of Culture
From Palaeothic times to the present, people have used masks to add power and mystery to religious rituals, warfare and entertainment. This companion volume to the 1999-2000 exhibtion at The Saint Louis Museum of Art provides a cultural history of these artefacts.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 24, 2012
This book was awesome-- I read it as part of my thesis research.
I will quickly just spew what my take-aways were-- sorry if it repeats itself a little-- I'm remembering from back across a few years here :)
It's a collection of photographs of a wide variety of face/head-wear, some of which we would traditionally easily term "masks," and others we wouldn't, and contains really interesting captions explaining why such unexpected items as hockey masks, football helmets, industrial vizors and space helmets also act in the way masks act, by disguising & concealing/transforming the face (whether for ornamental, communicative or protective purpose).
There is of course the expected "traditional" masks as you'd expect in any "history of masks" book-- but then the book continues right into Soviet and American helmets and vizors etc, and goes on to analyze how these 'masks' also transform the wearer not just on a practical level, but also to the imagination. I got out of this that even these rusty gas masks, which were seemingly designed with only breathing in mind, have a visual impact on all who see them-- they of course do, they are visible! And the practical role that a gas mask plays, allowing a person to breathe and particularly in an environment with hazardous, usually battleground-originating chemicals, winds up creating a mythos in the way the gas mask looks-- the war-purpose ends up written in the form of the gas mask: it is a continuation of the ritual-purpose of mask... That is, anyway, a simplification of what I remember getting from the book.
The authors show that all these pieces of headwear, from every period including the recent era, contain messages and clues about the society and time they are from, and that they are creating mythologies about the wearer.
Very interesting stuff!
I will quickly just spew what my take-aways were-- sorry if it repeats itself a little-- I'm remembering from back across a few years here :)
It's a collection of photographs of a wide variety of face/head-wear, some of which we would traditionally easily term "masks," and others we wouldn't, and contains really interesting captions explaining why such unexpected items as hockey masks, football helmets, industrial vizors and space helmets also act in the way masks act, by disguising & concealing/transforming the face (whether for ornamental, communicative or protective purpose).
There is of course the expected "traditional" masks as you'd expect in any "history of masks" book-- but then the book continues right into Soviet and American helmets and vizors etc, and goes on to analyze how these 'masks' also transform the wearer not just on a practical level, but also to the imagination. I got out of this that even these rusty gas masks, which were seemingly designed with only breathing in mind, have a visual impact on all who see them-- they of course do, they are visible! And the practical role that a gas mask plays, allowing a person to breathe and particularly in an environment with hazardous, usually battleground-originating chemicals, winds up creating a mythos in the way the gas mask looks-- the war-purpose ends up written in the form of the gas mask: it is a continuation of the ritual-purpose of mask... That is, anyway, a simplification of what I remember getting from the book.
The authors show that all these pieces of headwear, from every period including the recent era, contain messages and clues about the society and time they are from, and that they are creating mythologies about the wearer.
Very interesting stuff!
October 6, 2011
"Masks both conceal and reveal."
The history of masking is a mirror of human relations to the environment, the spiritual world, and each other.
The authors have assembled a wide-ranging and, well, awe-inspiring collection of masks, relating individual and societal uses and contexts while comparing across both cultures and time.
Page after page of information and inspired creativity.
The history of masking is a mirror of human relations to the environment, the spiritual world, and each other.
The authors have assembled a wide-ranging and, well, awe-inspiring collection of masks, relating individual and societal uses and contexts while comparing across both cultures and time.
Page after page of information and inspired creativity.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews