The Other Face: The Mask in the Arts
Author: Walter Sorell
Date: 1973
The mask in its innumerable forms and functions is the earliest man-created phenomenon and his most accomplished realization of our twofold existence. It gives man the imaginary power to manipulate his own destiny, to represent or hide various facets of his ego, to protect, beautify, frighten or pacify, universalize or eternalize. It is his other face, artificial and artistic.
Masks play a vital part in the religious and social activities of many primitive societies throughout the world. Hunting communities use animal masks to put them in touch with the animal world on which they depend, whereas anthropomorphic masks are connected with ancestor worship. Sometimes, however, they personify powerful spirits or demons and, to the awed onlookers, their wearers actually become the beings they represent.
Masks have always been more than simple disguise. They are a part of the alchemy that turns the secular world into the scared, the mundane into the magical. In festival and holiday around the world, they elevate humans into the realm of the gods, or at Halloween, they transform children into demons or witches. From ancient rituals to costume parties, masks exude a power that is magical and evocative.
This book is a new book written by Walter Sorell. It is a perceptive and wide ranging investigation of the magic and mystery of the mask and in particular of the universal significance of the concept of the mask as it is and has been expressed in the arts. It offers a full analysis of art forms all over the world and throughout history which have depended specifically on the mask, from the commedia dell’ arte to the Japanese Noh play, the Kathakali dances of India to the carnival grotesqueries which persist even today in many parts of the globe. But Mr. Sorell is also concerned to demonstrate the degree to which the obsession with masks and disguise has permeated all the arts from painting to puppetry and literature to mime. He illustrates his theme by singling out a startling diversity of artists for discussion, ranging in literature from the Old Testament to Jean Genet and in painting from Bosch to Picasso, in dance from primitive devil-dancers to Alwin Nikolais and in puppetry from the wayang kulit of Java to Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet Theater in New York. He also includes a chapter on the death mask and throughout the book discusses man’s apparently essential need for disguise in a world where almost everyone wears a mask.
The result is a totally original survey which is as thought –provoking as it is authoritative. Mr. Sorell convincingly demonstrates that the mask is the beginning, trauma and essence of all metamorphoses, it is the tragic bridge from life into death, it is the illusion of another reality on a higher plane, stronger in its awareness, clearer and more concrete in its expression than the elusive image of reality itself. The mask contains the magic of illusion without which man is unable to live.
From this book we can see clearly that mask have different forms in different arts, like painting, dancing, and so on. We can feel the power of mask.
The Collector’s Guide to masks
Author: Timothy Teuten
Date: 1995
Masks are mysterious, captivating objects which are growing ever more popular and sought-after as collectable items. They are stunningly beautiful in their own right, and also have many association of particular interest to the specialist collector; principally with tribal and ethnic art, but also with anthropology, magic, ritual and drama.
Masks as a serious subject for the collector are a relatively recent phenomenon. It is only in the past thirty years that auction houses have begun to devote sales exclusively to tribal art. Prior to that, collecting masks and tribal art was the preserve of relatively few collector, who were doubtless regarded as eccentric by their contemporaries, and who were consequently able to buy masks and other tribal artifacts for sums that seem extraordinary today.
Basically, a mask is a disguise. Its function may be to personify spirit, god or ancestors, to assume social control, to educate or to elude responsibility for one’s actions.
The Collector’s Guide to masks has been written by a leading authority from Christie’s auction house to give professional guidance to the new collector, the specialist and the experienced dealer in a subject area that is still-evolving and has yet to be fully codified. Whether the principal interest is in ethnic, European, or theatrical masks, every potential collector will benefit from expert advice on buying and selling, maintenance and display, valuing, and, most importantly, on building a collection of the best possible pieces within the budget available.
This journal told people the different masks. Such as African masks, Asian masks, New world masks, and European masks. We know the concept that in Europe masks have become simply a disguise. African masks are based on the concept of the classically beautiful face, regardless of whether the mask is a male or female one. The main purpose of this article is people how to distinguish the good masks then get them. The key question that the author is addressing is gave the guide to buyer. One of the best ways to find the forthcoming sales at an auction house is to subscribe to the catalogues, although this could be an expensive exercise. It is also a good idea to find a dealer you can trust. Visiting museums is all very well. Therefore, people can get a lot of information about how to know the good masks from this article.
My thought
To be honest, when I read this book and this journal, in my opinion, I feel very happy. I know a lot of thing that I never know before. I really enjoy this reading process.
From the book the other face: the mask in the art we can know mask’s meaning and spirit. The mask is not just mask on the face. It is a kind of art. It is man who is most fascinated by man. Since he is puzzled by his own being, he is most preoccupied with himself. His self-reflection, which he tries to penetrate, understand, and love, never quite leaves him. This is why both the primitive man and the child of the most sophisticated society instinctively attempt to recreate their own image on a wall or a piece of paper, in the sand or snow.
The variety and expressiveness of the masks grew immensely with the growing skill and artistic awareness of man. All the unrealized images he carried around with him, those many frightening visions that may have tormented him and which he could not articulate in any other form, went into the creation of masks.
The mask in its innumerable forms and function can lay claim to representing the longest chapter in primitive art. Some masks covered the entire face, others the whole head. The mask is the earliest man-created phenomenon and man’s most accomplish visual realization of our twofold existence. The mask of man truly reflected the mystery of being which, to this day, is only the other side of the same coin as the mystery of death. The mask is only one meaning and form of man’s creative expression. In many obvious as well as hidden ways it has always been closest to him, physically, of course, but even more so spiritually. The world is full of masks. We have learned to live with them on our own faces and on those of our fellow men without being aware of it. What is more surprising is that we are inclined to take them for real faces. We are all mask-makers, who partly prefer and partly enjoy and mainly cannot help living with a masklike make-believe of reality, a reality we assure ourselves daily that we must learn to face while, fortunately for us, we can keep it masked.
The journal the collector’s guide to masks is very full-scale to describe which the good masks are. It gives people professional guidance to collect the masks. So, these two books are have the closed link between each other inside.
Bibliography I have used
Barr, Alfred H, j r, ed, Master of Modern Art. New York. 1954
Pirandello, Luigi, Naked Masks, Edited by Eric Bently. New York.1952
Levi Strauss C, The way of the masks, London, 1983
Lamp,F ,The art of the Baga 1986
Goonatilleka, M H, Masks and mask system of Srilanka 1978
Next
When I finish this, I will look some other art on the face. Like make up on the face, different hats, different vision. I want to take this in any further. I think it is interesting.
Feedback
In fact, I like the seminar talk. I really enjoy this study process. We can express our own mind. Then we search information that we used. It is can widen our horizon and enrich our knowledge. It can make us more active. Maybe next semester we can do some topic about our main study. I think it will more helpful and useful.
