Customer Reviews

Masks of Mexico: Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life

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The author assigned herself the task of publishing a representative sample of masks from the many Mexican states with strong traditions of mask use, drawing from the previously underdisplayed collections of the Museum of International Folk Art, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The book brings together a number of interesting photographs of masked dancers, to augment the excellent mask photos. Some of these have appeared in other books on Mexican masking, accessible or inaccessible, others are fresh and new, to the reviewer at least.

In terms of the actual masks, a number of these are rather old, attractive or uncommon, rarely seen or described in books or exhibits; some others are not so old or rare, but nevertheless very interesting. A minority of others are familiar from other standard reference works, and add little to this volume. Their inclusion follows from the goal to present the broad spectrum of Mexican masking.

On the other hand, there appear to be virtually no decorative masks among all those illustrated, which is a credit to the excellent scholarship of the author. Indeed, she has taken great care to identify the carvers, the towns, the estimated age, and the indigenous traditions of each mask, to the extent that this could be documented. The estimated ages are refreshing in their modesty, in contrast to the florid attribution of great age to any demonstrable wear, that one so commonly encounters in books about masks.

In the end, a book about Mexican dance masks must rise or fall on the strength of the material and the quality of the photographs; from this perspective the book is a must buy for any Mexican mask collector or aficionado.