Ancient Masks, Modern Masks.

• Author: BYRNE, CAROLYN

From cavemen to astronauts, humans have worn masks for protection, as a disguise, or as a means of transforming themselves spiritually.

THE LARGEST global exhibition to explore the power of masks in the human experience unites visual, cultural, and historical perspectives to present them as works of art and icons of culture. The 139 masks in this exhibition--30 are on view with full costumes--have come from nearly 50 countries on six continents. Ranging from prehistoric times to the present, they exemplify the exquisite design, provocative imagery, and compelling purpose found in one of the most enduring forms of artistic expression.

Throughout recorded history, masks have been part of the human experience. In nearly every culture, age, and inhabited region of the world, they have functioned as mediums of expression and transformation. As works of art, masks embody dynamic visual energy; as cultural icons, they present the rich panoply of diversities and commonalities in mankind. The need to mask, so vividly emphasized in this exhibition, reveals a human desire to transcend earthly limitations, penetrate alien environments, and be reinvented, renewed, strengthened, and protected.

One highlight is a 230-year-old Siberian shaman's costume found in Gottingen, Germany. A centerpiece in the exhibition, this extremely rare costume had not been removed from its case in more than 50 years. Another remarkable piece--the oldest shown--is a funerary mask from the Middle East, made to resemble a grinning human skull and dating from the Chalcolithic period (5000-3000 B.C.).

Whether in warfare, religion, entertainment, crisis, or celebration, masks have always been agents of change, and the traditions of masking have been predominantly male. The exhibition is organized according to origins, rites of passage, renewal, men as women, theater, and offense/defense.

Beginning with paleolithic times, when hunters and shamans used masks and costumes as decoys, men performed masquerades before and after the hunt to gain the blessings of the spirits. Masks continue to be central to festivals of renewal in masquerades still practiced, primarily by men, in such diverse places as Bulgaria, Switzerland, Sardinia, Brazil, China, Japan, and West Africa. Masking has also been important in the depiction of real and fictional persona in theater and film, both outgrowths of male-dominated rituals rooted in mythology and religion.

"Masks: Faces of Culture" is on view at The...