This Mask series was created by photography Inge Morath in collaboration with artist and cartoonist Saul Steinberg.
Talking to Magnum, of which she is a member of, she said in regards to the birth of the project;
“This is how I remember it…”, the photographer Inge Morath recalled in 2000. “In 1956, I finally got to New York…[Gjon] Mili gave Saul Steinberg a call…and Saul agreed to meet me and maybe pose for a portrait. The date was made. Upper East Side in the Seventies. I rang the bell and Saul Steinberg came out wearing over his head a paper bag on which he had drawn a self-portrait.”
After this initial meeting, Morath began the series in collaboration with Steinberg. The series consists of figures wearing masks made of paper or cardboard, which Steinberg handmade.
They have a touch of modernism and cubism in terms of their design, which is down to Steinberg's background and schooling which was heavily influenced by cubism.
At first, the images were just of Steinberg who drew these masks to reflect himself. Over time, the design of the masks changed to be more detailed and a bit more out-there with more intricate facial expressions and decorations. As the style of mask changes, as does the photography. Magnum describes this change as "more dynamic and improvisational." Morath began photographing her friends and acquaintances with the masks.
" On their surface, these images appear playfully performative, joyful, and imbued with child-like humour and imagination. Yet looking at the series more closely and collectively, the photographs gradually begin to act as cryptic metaphors for the eerie cheeriness and forced innocence of 1950s post-war America, as seen through the eyes of two world-weary Europeans who were more than wary of a culture that masked its underlying turmoil in syrupy self-satisfied grins, and buried its insecurities underneath superficial displays of prosperity and grandeur. " - Aaron Schuman for Metro
This perhaps doesn't seem to link well with my series however I feel that the idea of the mask and hiding under a mask of beauty and perfection is prominent in both my work and this series by Morath and Steinberg. From the Steinberg Foundation website it's clear that Steinberg was a huge believer that everybody wears a mask, metaphorically or physically with the way people present themselves.
This ideology of the mask is mentioned in a lot of the reading I have done for this module. That in combination with the cultural and contextual information gives the images a lot more depth than they first appear to contain. The masks seem to give a presentation of the 'American Dream' being accomplished, to make the wearer appear happy and successful when in reality this was sparse in success. The American dream is a construct that isn't even obtainable; Mariam Webster describes it as "a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful"
It completely disregards racial and gender imbalances, which makes it far less likely for people of colour or even women to make it to success due to all of the extra obstacles that they face that men do not. It's constructed around the white man, especially in regards to the American Dream in the 50's and 60's, where racism was the norm and women were generally seen as housewives and nothing more.
in some images, the mask hides that the American Dream is rarely achievable by covering reality with a masked forged by the ideologies of the white man of the time.
In others, it contradicts the idea of the American Dream by showing perhaps a face that is more undesirable than the permanent mask of happiness on their faces, created from facial expressions, makeup and hairstyle.
By keeping identities secret, these people could be anybody. We can see their build and their race to some extent however the rest of their identity is unknown, leaving an audience to contemplate their past and present through the surroundings they're places within and their dress. We may also try to give personalities based on the drawing given to the mask.
The mask being made of paper reflects the impermanence of the mask. It can be taken off, but publicly and while we look at them, it remains on, showing how to a stranger (us) they present a false identity.
Again, while this work may not directly reflect on my work, I think it's important to look at work that also plays with the concept of the mask. While my project is more about ripping off my own mask and this is about making the daily mask more visible, I think it's good to have that knowledge of how others think about the concept and how they've gone to make others aware of it.
Talking to Magnum, of which she is a member of, she said in regards to the birth of the project;
“This is how I remember it…”, the photographer Inge Morath recalled in 2000. “In 1956, I finally got to New York…[Gjon] Mili gave Saul Steinberg a call…and Saul agreed to meet me and maybe pose for a portrait. The date was made. Upper East Side in the Seventies. I rang the bell and Saul Steinberg came out wearing over his head a paper bag on which he had drawn a self-portrait.”
After this initial meeting, Morath began the series in collaboration with Steinberg. The series consists of figures wearing masks made of paper or cardboard, which Steinberg handmade.
They have a touch of modernism and cubism in terms of their design, which is down to Steinberg's background and schooling which was heavily influenced by cubism.
At first, the images were just of Steinberg who drew these masks to reflect himself. Over time, the design of the masks changed to be more detailed and a bit more out-there with more intricate facial expressions and decorations. As the style of mask changes, as does the photography. Magnum describes this change as "more dynamic and improvisational." Morath began photographing her friends and acquaintances with the masks.
" On their surface, these images appear playfully performative, joyful, and imbued with child-like humour and imagination. Yet looking at the series more closely and collectively, the photographs gradually begin to act as cryptic metaphors for the eerie cheeriness and forced innocence of 1950s post-war America, as seen through the eyes of two world-weary Europeans who were more than wary of a culture that masked its underlying turmoil in syrupy self-satisfied grins, and buried its insecurities underneath superficial displays of prosperity and grandeur. " - Aaron Schuman for Metro
This perhaps doesn't seem to link well with my series however I feel that the idea of the mask and hiding under a mask of beauty and perfection is prominent in both my work and this series by Morath and Steinberg. From the Steinberg Foundation website it's clear that Steinberg was a huge believer that everybody wears a mask, metaphorically or physically with the way people present themselves.
This ideology of the mask is mentioned in a lot of the reading I have done for this module. That in combination with the cultural and contextual information gives the images a lot more depth than they first appear to contain. The masks seem to give a presentation of the 'American Dream' being accomplished, to make the wearer appear happy and successful when in reality this was sparse in success. The American dream is a construct that isn't even obtainable; Mariam Webster describes it as "a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful"
It completely disregards racial and gender imbalances, which makes it far less likely for people of colour or even women to make it to success due to all of the extra obstacles that they face that men do not. It's constructed around the white man, especially in regards to the American Dream in the 50's and 60's, where racism was the norm and women were generally seen as housewives and nothing more.
in some images, the mask hides that the American Dream is rarely achievable by covering reality with a masked forged by the ideologies of the white man of the time.
In others, it contradicts the idea of the American Dream by showing perhaps a face that is more undesirable than the permanent mask of happiness on their faces, created from facial expressions, makeup and hairstyle.
By keeping identities secret, these people could be anybody. We can see their build and their race to some extent however the rest of their identity is unknown, leaving an audience to contemplate their past and present through the surroundings they're places within and their dress. We may also try to give personalities based on the drawing given to the mask.
The mask being made of paper reflects the impermanence of the mask. It can be taken off, but publicly and while we look at them, it remains on, showing how to a stranger (us) they present a false identity.
Again, while this work may not directly reflect on my work, I think it's important to look at work that also plays with the concept of the mask. While my project is more about ripping off my own mask and this is about making the daily mask more visible, I think it's good to have that knowledge of how others think about the concept and how they've gone to make others aware of it.
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