1940s Masks
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Period: 1940s
Mid-20th Century Black Dance Mask, Guerrero, Mexico
Located in Point Richmond, CA
Mid-20th century black dance mask, Guerrero, Mexico
A nice old mask from Guererro, Mexico, used in the Tlacololero Dance of the Tlactapa and probably fr...
Category
Mexican Tribal Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Mid 20thcentury papier Mache Paris theatre mask of sleepy head
Located in London, GB
Mid 20thcentury papier Mache Paris theatre mask of sleepy head
A quirky example of an early to mid-20th century hand crafted papier Mache theatre mask, in the form of a sleepy head old man figure...
Category
French Mid-Century Modern Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Paper
Antique Mexican Diablo Mask
Located in Mexico City, CDMX
We offer this rare and very antique Mexican Diablo mask in wood, circa 1940. Great patina.
Category
Mexican Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
1940s Paper Mache Chinese Dragon Head from a Costume
Located in Tarrytown, NY
1940s handmade papier mâché head of a dragon. From a costume worn for Chinese New Years. Eyes blink, by pulling on chords in head. A bird sits on top...
Category
Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Paper
Set of Six Vintage French Three Dimensional Masks
Located in Stamford, CT
Very animated face masks from the 1940s. Three dimensional.
Category
French Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Composition
Large Basketry Gable Mask from Papua New Guinea
Located in Highland, IN
A beautiful and large example of Oceanic art, this delightful woven mask would have been used on the gable of a middle Sepik meeting house. The wildly expressive form is accentuated ...
Category
Papua New Guinean Tribal Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Cane, Rattan, Wood
Related Items
TA RA TA TA, Seminara Ceramic Mask
Located in Paris, FR
The apotropaic (warding off evil) mask from Seminara can be distinguished by its horns, wide eyes, mustache, and screaming mouth with its tongue sticking out. The masks are finished in enormous wood fired kilns, which adds an uncontrollable twist to the features and colors rendered by the artisan’s hands—the final touch in their fierce and imperfect beauty. The demonic aspect of this mask is manifested in order to be expelled, bringing serenity to the owner and ridding the home of negative energy. Giovanni De Francesco takes an idiosyncratic approach to the traditional mask, aiming not for verisimilitude but for a rough impression of the volumes of the face. Using sculptural gestures to shape the clay, he accentuates the fundamental geometry and makes the shapes more grotesque.
Incense can also be placed within TA RA TA TA’s ceramic jaws for ritual burning. This function alludes to a specific variation of the typical mask in in the form of a chimneypot: with smoke pouring out of its mouth and eyes, the mask would appear much more ferocious—and thus even more powerful.
Details:
- Dimension: approximately 32 H x 25 W x 10 D cm
- Material: 100% Mediterranean terracotta clay
- Technique: 100% handmade in Italy
- Each handcrafted TA RA TA TA Seminara mask is unique. Picture on an indicative basis.
- 14-days return policy
- In stock
Giovanni De Francesco (Bergamo 1976), lives and works between Milan and Paris. He is a visual artist dedicated to sculptural installations through the use of plastic materials, photography, video, painting and sound. Since 1997 he has taken part in many personal exhibits as well as collective ones. He an artistic consultant at the Luisa delle Piane gallery in Milan and is a founding member of the Monstera theatre company. He occasionally collaborates with Andre Branzi...
Category
Italian 1940s Masks
Materials
Ceramic
100 FEARS, Seminara Ceramic Mask
Located in Paris, FR
The traditional masks of the Calabrian town of Seminara are intended to chase away evil from the home, dispel fears and gossip with their exaggerated and grotesque features. The mask...
Category
Italian 1940s Masks
Materials
Ceramic
MISTO, Seminara Ceramic Mask
Located in Paris, FR
MISTO invites itself into your interior to ward off spells, evil spirits and evil influences.
Sophie Dries reinvents the traditional Calabrian mask with her contemporary graphic
li...
Category
Italian 1940s Masks
Materials
Ceramic
Cariddi, Seminara Ceramic Mask
Located in Paris, FR
In Greek mythology, the name CARIDDI (Charybdis in English) belonged to a monster that lived in the sea between Calabria and Sicily and destroyed ships by swallowing them up and spitting them back out, generating dangerous whirlpools in the water. This myth is reinterpreted in the form of a mask, which inverts the traditional convex surface to create a concave volume inspired by the underwater world. The mask invites the gaze into the blue depths of its smooth interior, where an uncanny protrusion emerges in the shape of a nose, a signature motif in Giovanni De Francesco’s artistic production. Each nose-island is different from the others; every mask has a unique beauty accentuated by imperfections, smudges, and uncontrollable colors, invoking the unpredictability of fear. This perception overturns the ferocious symbolism of the legendary monster, rewriting CARIDDI as a welcoming narrative. The artist’s explorations of fear, danger, and the unknown become particularly poignant when placed in the recent historical context of Calabria and the Mediterranean Sea.
In the exceptional conditions of the present moment, when hundreds of millions of people are spending more time at home than ever before in living memory, the homeware brand TRAME wants to share the inspiring and supportive influences of these Mediterranean ritual objects with the entire world.
The masks, whether the traditional forms or the contemporary design interpretations, reveal a sense of both timelessness and contemporaneity in their aspirational evocation of a social life with more serenity and less fear.
Details:
- Dimension: approximately 28 H x 22 W x 8 D cm
- Material: 100% Mediterranean terracotta clay
- Technique: 100% handmade in Italy
- Each handcrafted CARIDDI Seminara mask is unique. Picture on an indicative basis.
- 14-days return policy
- In stock
Giovanni De Francesco (Bergamo 1976), lives and works between Milan and Paris. He is a visual artist dedicated to sculptural installations through the use of plastic materials, photography, video, painting and sound. Since 1997 he has taken part in many personal exhibits as well as collective ones. He an artistic consultant at the Luisa delle Piane gallery in Milan and is a founding member of the Monstera theatre company.
He occasionally collaborates with Andre Branzi...
Category
Italian 1940s Masks
Materials
Ceramic
Hand-Carved Wood Javanese ‘Wayang Topeng’ Theatre Mask, Indonesia c. 1900
Located in Jimbaran, Bali
A visibly old mask from the Javanese masks theatre ‘wayang topeng’: carved from hard wood, and painted on the front side. The mask shows clear traces of ...
Category
Indonesian Other 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Free Shipping
H 9.85 in W 8.27 in D 4.73 in
Traditional, Seminara Ceramic Mask
Located in Paris, FR
Ditto potters with Antonio Bonamico.
The ceramic masks of Seminara are ostentatious and grotesque, with deliberately frightening features to scare away ...
Category
Italian 1940s Masks
Materials
Ceramic
Old African Songye Female Kifwebe Wall Mask with Expressive Face Large Sized
Located in Torquay, GB
Large sized Songye Female Kifwebe mask from The Congo circa 1920s.
Traditionally, the Kifwebe mask is very symbolic in the Bantu culture of central Africa.
Its striking colours and carving symbolise the battle between good and evil.
Female Kifwebe masks represent femininity, the continuation of life and a good omen.
These masks were used for wedding ceremonies, reproduction rituals and other such occasions.
This large mask...
Category
Congolese Tribal 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
H 13.78 in W 7.88 in D 6.7 in
Collection of Handmade Mexican Folk Art Masks
Located in Atlanta, GA
Collection of Handmade Mexican Folk Art Tin Masks, Mexican, circa 1950s. Each mask is unique and extremely detailed. The largest mask measures 21"...
Category
Mexican Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Copper, Tin
MISTO, Seminara Ceramic Mask, Green, Sophie Dries
Located in Paris, FR
MISTO invites itself into your interior to ward off spells, evil spirits and evil influences.
Sophie Dries reinvents the traditional Calabrian mask with her contemporary graphic
li...
Category
Italian 1940s Masks
Materials
Ceramic
Songye Basangwe Mask DRC Wall Hanging Mask Circa 1950s
Located in Torquay, GB
On offer is a Basangwe mask from the Songye people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, circa 1950s.
The mask has the typical facial shape of the Basangwe mask.
At the top, it has a pair of stylised birds decorated with punched triangles. Their long beaks seem to suggest Hornbill or Kalao bird.
The eyes are slanted elongated slits, it has narrow nose and protruding circular mouth in a light russet colour.
It has a banded stripe design in black and white more similar to a Songye Kifwebe mask...
Category
Congolese Tribal 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood, Paint
Tribal Style Songye Kifwebe Mask, D. R. Congo
Located in Point Richmond, CA
This graphic Songye Kifwebe mask has fine carved lines curved over the eyes and diagonal lines radiating from the nose and mouth in classic Kifwebe form. ...
Category
Congolese Tribal 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Set of Three, Vintage, French, Pierrot Boudoir Doll Faces from the 1920s
Located in Vienna, Austria
What a wonderful discovery, rare Pierrot doll faces from the 1920s . All three pieces are in very good condition with minor age related flaws. These fabri...
Category
French Modern Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Textile
Free Shipping
H 2.76 in W 1.97 in D 5.12 in
Previously Available Items
Antique Mexican Skull Mask
Located in Mexico City, CDMX
We offer this rare and very antique Mexican Skull mask in wood, circa 1940. Great patina.
Category
Mexican Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Early 20th Century Guere Mask
Located in London, GB
Early 20th Century Guere mask
A hand-crafted early 20th Century in the style of the Guere mask from the Ivory coast. Guere Mask from the Ivory Coast can...
Category
Congolese Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Metal
Antique Mexican Carnaval Mask
Located in Mexico City, CDMX
We offer this rare antique Mexican Carnaval mask in pine wood, circa 1940.
Category
Mexican Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Vintage African 1940s Wooden Baoule Mask
Located in Copenhagen K, DK
Africa, 1940s
Baoule mask.
A legend says that this type of African mask is a Baoule mask which is also known as a Goli mask. It is used in tribal dances during harvest festiva...
Category
African Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Early 20th Century German Folk-Art Carved Wooden Puppet Heads
Located in London, GB
Early 20th Century German Folk-Art Carved Wooden Puppet Heads
For sale in this LOT is a highly collectable and rare Folk-art hand carved wooden puppet h...
Category
French Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Pine
Papier Mâché Theatre Bears Head
Located in London, GB
Vintage papier mâché bears head theatre Folk Art decorative item
For sale is a wonderful early vintage original papier mâché theatre bears head originatin...
Category
French Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Paper
Warrior Mask
Located in London, GB
Item: Tibetan hand carved warrior mask
This lot is a wonderfully hand carved Tibetan warrior mask which strongly resembles iron man or a character from a Marvel Comic. Unique and hi...
Category
Congolese Arts and Crafts Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Carved Theatre Mask
Located in London, GB
Item: Mid-20th century carved wooden theatre mask
This item was discovered in France and would have originally been used in the early to mid-20th Centu...
Category
European Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Bamana Mask, Suruku Mali, 1940s
Located in Brussels, BE
Bamana Mask, Suruku Mali, 1940s.
Category
Malian Tribal Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Mexican Bull Mask from Chiapas
Located in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Bull "Toro" Mask, hand-carved hardwood from Suchiapa, Chiapas, 1940s. One of the oldest Mexican masks in our collection. Worn and danced during the pagan dance celebration each year ...
Category
Mexican Folk Art Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Wood
Xotic Indian Art Deco Sculpted Head in Wood by Silva
Located in Oakland, CA
Original wood carved Indian (maybe Peruvian) head in the Art Deco style. Lots of geometric and triangular details integrated within the head dress. Interesting...
Category
Peruvian Art Deco Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Hardwood
Rare Museum Quality African "Bird" Mask
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Extremely intricate museum quality African mask. In the manner of a bird with a large beak. Made of wood and hand-painted with great coloring. Mounted on a metal stand. Excellent vin...
Category
African Vintage 1940s Masks
Materials
Iron