Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico,
Mid-20th century.
Molded papier maché mask.  Made on traditional clay mask mold.
(8 1/4” h. x 5 3/4” w. x 3” d.).
Purchased in Mexico c.1985

Inexpensive masks of paper or pasteboard (máscaras de cartón), formed over a pottery mold and then painted, have been made in Mexico for perhaps a century or longer. Máscaras Mexicanas, a book featuring photographs of Mexican masks, was initially published in Mexico City in about 1926, with a prologue by Roberto Montenegro. There are about 20 of these paper mache masks in the book, along with others of wood and pre-Conquest masks made of other materials such as stone. Moya Rubio included a selection of these masks in plate 188, on page 157 ( Máscaras: la Otra Cara, 1986). Notes from  the late Bryan Stevens, 2018