All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks
in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity
Friedrich Nietzsche
Irving Penn, Three Asaro Mud Men, New Guinea, 1970
Irving Penn, Two Men in White Masks, Cuzco, Peru, 1948
Chris Rainier, Masked Tatanua Dancers for Malangan Celebration, New Guinea
Walker Evans, African art, Mask with feathers
Roger M. Parry
Cheryl Koralik, Masque Bob, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, 1991
Edward Curtis, Masked Dancer Cowichan, 1913
Edward Curtis, Tonenili—Navajo,c.1905
Eliot Elisofon, Belgian Congo, February 1947
Edward Curtis
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Romance from Ambrose Bierce#3, 1962
Arthur Tress
Helen Levitt, New York, children on stoop wearing masks, 1939
Roger Ballen, Wild Child, 2003
Brassaï, Carnival in Frascati, 1954
Diane Arbus, Untitled, 1970
Edward Curtis, Inuit masks
Hiroshi Watanabe, Kurohige, Naito Clan
Hengki Koentjoro
Kenro Izu, from the exhibition: BHUTAN sacred within
Hiroshi Watanabe, Chujo, Naito Clan
That picture of Arthur Tress.. I've seen it before but didn't know who had to be credited for such a beautiful photo!
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back to the sole unmasked person here in Parry's photograph - found myself appreciating her warm smile amongst the alien, kind of unsettling faces these masks have. Although, Meatyard and Tress' photographs are kinda funny in their cartoonishness! (The man in the left of Meatyard's first photo has a sinister quality to him, though...)
ReplyDelete@madrigual: I had also seen the photo in various places without any credit, before I finally found out that it's from Arthur Tress. It's indeed a wonderful children's portrait.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Vincent. I wasn't aware how much this sole smiling human face stands out in this collection until you pointed me to it. The interesting aspect about the photos from Meatyard is, that the people he portraits are mostly friends and relatives. An indeed sinister way to point out how close we are to our demons. At least I like to look at it that way ;)
ReplyDeleteI am obsessed with your blog. You've curated such a fun place here.
ReplyDeleteThank you, chelseas! Glad you're sharing some of my obsessions :)
ReplyDeleteI also found your blog while trying to ID that Tress photo (thanks for clearing that up), but I think the whole page is great. Finding common ground between things like the Tress and Meatyard and Arbus with Curtis's 100-year-old shots of tribal masks is really inspired. Great how you also pulled in things like that rather haunting Helen Levitt photo.
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