Atelier de Breteuil

Demon of Fury C0024

Inventory Number
C0024Size
9" H x 7" W x 3 1/2" DMaterial
stonewarePeriod
JaponistCountry of Origin
FranceYear Made
c1900Status
availableCondition
perfect

Description

This mask is an homage to the avidly collected Japanese masks that were the rage in Paris in the late nineteenth century. The cadaverous cheekbones, deep eye sockets, otherworldly grimace, broadly flaring nostrils, and the odd appearance of the ears suggest that this mask is an adaptation of the Shikami type of Noh mask. The fact that two faces in Pablo Picasso's 1907 painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, bear more than a passing resemblance to it reminds us that there was a widespread interest in the fiendish and furious in French artistic circles during the years before WWI.