Q: Thought you might like to see this steel mask which I made some years ago. The steel came from an area that had been subjected to a cluster bomb attack. In this case the mask doesn’t protect: rather it shows the fragility of the wearer. Steve, 1692 A: I’ve always had some interest in cultural anthropology, but I was drawn to mask collecting mainly because they combine the two most important art forms: sculpture and painting. Your piece would be called wall sculpture because it is way more than just decorative art. It is fine art, and it also has meaning. Many of the masks shown on this site…

It was about 40 years ago that I bought my first mask (Mexican) at a flea market. A few years later I met Bryan who lived in the neighboring town of York, PA, and he really got me excited about collecting. Though he was a psychiatrist by profession, he curated one of the most important Mexican mask collections in the world. He was always generous with his time and taught me a great deal about the folk art and anthropology of Mexico. He was also kind enough to write the preface to “Masks of the World,” a book written by me and Troy Yohn in 2015. I will greatly miss…

Q: I recently bought this mask. Its about 20 cm tall. Looks real old and used but I don’t know where its from or from witch culture it is?. I bought it at an auction and paid 400 euro for it. Niek, 1659 A: Niek is a collector of PNG masks. I think he can tell what pre-contact usage looks like. This mask was carved with bones, shells or stone fragments… not a steel tool. But after a long search I have found nothing. Certainly 400 euros will be a great bargain if we can identify it. Please try to help us! Niek will be so appreciative. A?

Q: I just received this mask as a gift. I was told it came from a collector in Canada, but it looks African to me. Rick, 1650 A: Many of the people who write to the Mask Man have been given a mask, found one, or bought an “old one” cheap. They are usually hoping it will be worth something. I have to disappoint them, hopefully, in a nice way. It would be better the next time if they bought tribal art for beauty rather than value. Other visitors to MasksoftheWorld are collectors and would probably not be interested in today’s blog. Rick has a mask that doesn’t resemble the…

Q: Would you know more about this straw mask. It reminds me of an African dog mask. Very comfortable to wear. Not sure if it represents a zebra or a monkey. Looking forward to your answer. Paule, 1649 A: I would say this mask was made by Indians from the forests of Panama, possibly the Embera or the Wounaan people. Both tribes often weave animal masks out of the same natural materials they use for baskets. I wish I could tell you what kind of animal it is. Maybe it is some kind of monkey. I hope you keep this rare mask and do some serious research. B+

I saw some of the beautiful pictures in this new book. Here is one of a Buddhist deer masks from the Mustang Region of Nepal. Sorry, my scan doesn’t do it justice. Check out more of them on the internet and see what you think. Here is what Amazon had to say about the book… MASK presents a striking collection of rare masks steeped in ancient tradition, captured through the lens of one of the world’s most celebrated documentary photographers. Chris Rainier has documented indigenous and endangered cultures worldwide. What began as a focus on the masks of New Guinea—where modernity threatened to erase ancient rituals and cultures—became an expansive…

Over 11,000 years ago, people in Star Carr were carving eyeholes into the crania of dead deer, presumably using the stone tools found at the northern Yorkshire site. As of Thursday, three of the 33 evocative headdresses made by the Mesolithic-era hunter-gatherers out of deer skulls, and other miraculously preserved artifacts, are on display at Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Ordinarily, all that latter-day archaeologists find from the distant past are stone and pottery artifacts that don’t suffer decay. There are exceptions, such as peat bogs in which the oxygen-breathing bacteria of rot cannot live. In Yorkshire, northern England, the waterlogged ground at Star Carr almost miraculously preserved…

I’m starting with a Marka mask from Mali, a country that is almost entirely Muslim. The second photo is a niqab, something you would expect to see in a Muslim country. Many African countries have a rich tradition of crafted masks. During the seventh century and the beginning of Islam, Muslims migrated to North Africa. They also pushed into territories further south that eventually became the Republic of Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, and several others. We know that the Islamic religion has always discouraged masquerade. But many of these African cultures had ancient artistic traditions in mask-making for indigenous celebrations. They made masks that represented spirits and gods. In their…