Masks in Art History

Hey dear community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that was full of positive experiences! In this post, I would like to talk a little about art history and hope you are able to expand your knowledge.

Here you can see some very abstract-looking masks in different shapes, styles or colors and the artists have put a lot of effort into creating these authentic works. Making masks from different materials is definitely a remarkable art form that is already thousands of years old and has shaped pretty much all cultures and already in the past people were extremely creative when it comes to choosing the right materials and mainly stone, wood, plants, metal, fabric or other materials were used. In history, masks were often worn on religious occasions and the topic has strongly shaped the mythology of numerous cultures and a good example is ancient Egypt where much value has been placed on the creation of masks made of gold. Masks were used in ancient Egypt for ceremonial purposes such as burials and many pharaohs were placed in their grave together with masks and were primarily important for the worship or identification of the deceased. Masks were also of great importance for ceremonies or festivities and they were worn at numerous different events and in some cultures people worshipped gods or organized dances with masks and often masks were also used for occult rituals. Wearing masks is often associated with magic or mysticism and a good example are the masks worn in Venice and at carnival and the history goes back hundreds of years and in the past in Venice masks were worn all year round to hide the face while nowadays it is used more for cultural purposes.

Wearing masks is also of great importance for other branches of art such as theater performances and here there is no limit to creativity and there are numerous different types of masks that adapt perfectly to the mood of the respective play and who gave the whole topic a great swing were the ancient Greeks as well as Romans who were known for their diverse mask games and the wearing of full-body masks is also known in the theater world. To this day, masks are of great importance in the theater and also the masks used by doctors from the 17th century were formative in Europe and typical for the masks was the long beak and the point was to protect the doctor from the disease. Even if the masks of the pest doctors are a good example of occult art, they have served a purpose and around the globe there are thousands of different types of masks and it is definitely a diverse art form to this day that characterizes all kinds of cultures. Masks do not always have to be made of their own material and can also often be produced by make-up and every year festivities take place all over the world in which the wearing of masks is of great importance and the best known is probably the carnival. Masks are also of great importance in Africa and are often associated with magical ceremonies there and wearing masks can have very different meanings here and are also often associated with religious thoughts.

Thanks a lot for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about art history! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens!