Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2005 - 35

(the flirtatious widow) during her 1999 tour of South Korea.
Mr. Kim experienced such demand from tourists for his
Hahoe masks that he built a factory to manufacture large
quantities of them. With profits from this business, he purchased an extensive collection of Korean masks which he now
displays in a museum next to his studio. He is currently planning an international mask museum where he will exhibit the
masks he has acquired during his world travels.
Likewise, Italian mask maker Donato Sartori has announced plans for an international mask museum near his
studio in Padua. He and his father/mentor, Amleto Sartori,
have created inspirational masks for such notable performance artists as Eduardo de Felippo, Georgio Strehler, LeCoq,
and Dario Fo. For decades international theatre companies
have commissioned their work, while students from around
the world come annually during the summer to study the
Sartori mask-making techniques.
Other mask makers I interviewed who regularly sell
"tourist/educational" masks include Xstine Cook, Bruce Marrs,
Newman, Anom, Dawig, Victor Reece, and Juan Horta. Contact
information for all the mask makers in this article is provided
for collectors and educators seeking more information.

HOW MASKS FUNCTION
Paleolithic cave paintings depict animal heads probably worn
by hunters. Swedish mask maker Torbjorn Alstrom has researched Paleolithic masks in Sweden and incorporates in his
masks a wide range of materials such as fish skin, furs, bark,
and leather which he thinks may have been used by the earliest
mask makers in his country. His Pulcinella mask utilizes fish
skin for an especially primitive textured effect.
Joseph Campbell says that early mythic stories (which he
refers to as the primal "masks" of god) attempted to explain
the consequences of death, particularly humanity's yearnings
to maintain some sort of spiritual connection with the dead.
Mythic stories also assisted humanity with its need to cope
with the concept of its conflicted duty to kill in order to live.
(Campbell 1991, Myth, 39, 90) The awareness and fear of
death demanded some sort of spiritual and eternal level of reality to transcend the limitations of life on
earth. Remnants of weapons, special clothing, and jewelry have
been found in burial caves
dating back to Neanderthal
man, who placed the regalia alongside the dead

Iwasaki Kyoun
Japan
✶
Iwasaki Kyoun is eighty years old and
did not start making masks until he
reached his forties. His earlier years, near
Hiroshima, were fraught with the tensions and
poverty of Japan in the aftermath of World War II.
"What has always inspired me to make another mask is the happiness I feel when one is
completed. Each mask I make, even if it is a mask in the traditional Noh style, becomes
unique with my hands and heart. I especially enjoy the carving, the painting, and the final
finishing touches. I love to perform in my masks and work regularly."

✶ (contact: c/o Akira Kiyomatsu, phone: +81 742-44-9797)

W I N T E R

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2005