Between Life and Death: On the Art of Mask-Making

Abstract

"This analysis considers the theme of mask-making as illustrated in the work of James Ensor, in two plays by Fernand Crommelynck and Kido Okamoto, in a screenplay by Abel Gance and a series of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I examine how, in all these works, the mask functions primarily as an aesthetic object, rather than as a theatrical prop, and argue that, as the theatrical potential is supplanted by an aesthetic function, the mask is associated with an act of violence and becomes a magical, ritualistic object that reflects the threshold of life and death."