Masks 12/2/2019

The focus of this post is Pablo Picasso and his fascination/frenzy with masks as illustrated in the book, Landscapes of the Sacred. According to the text, Picasso had been fascinated all his life with the vitality and mystery of the ceremonial masks used by primitive peoples. He wanted to find the mask that gave life and opened new possibilities by concealing the old. The very definition of a mask is something that disguises, but what I learned form this book is that masks not only disguise the wearer, but the then outwardly reflect a specific character or being. With Picasso being an artist, the very art of metaphors was in his blood, as he used paints, brushes, and canvases to put into art what others would put into verbal speech. It is interesting that he wanted to not only use metaphors through his art but use his art to find the greatest metaphor of all: the mask. The mask, which conceals and reveals; in Picasso’s case, revealing the new life one has by concealing the old life one had gone through. In all, masks were something of a great fascination to Picasso and it is intriguing to see how his delight in it reflected who he was not only as a profession, but as a person.