Painted blackface mask: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A painted blackface mask. The mask is constructed from two layers of cotton voile with and an internal layer of plaster cloth sandwiched in between that shapes the mask. The plaster cloth is white, the top layer is black cotton voile, and the bottom layer white cotton voile. Hood is black cotton voile. The facial features and ears of the mask are painted. The mask has large, prominent eyes that are stenciled white circles with blue irises and black pupils. There are eye holes at the center of each pupil. The eyebrows, eye wrinkles, and forehead lines are hand painted in white. There are two holes at the mask's nostrils and a semicircular opening at the mouth. The stenciled mouth is painted wide and red. The mask is bald and its ears protrude on either side. A black hood constructed from black cotton voile is attached to the back of the mask. The right ear has been repaired with glue.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 20th century
• Manufactured by: British Made Toys & Games, British
• Type: masks (costume)
• Medium: cotton (textile) with plaster , paint and glue
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Overall): 16 3/4 × 9 15/16 × 7 1/2 in. (42.5 × 25.3 × 19 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Mask): 9 7/16 × 9 1/4 × 4 13/16 in. (24 × 23.5 × 12.2 cm)
• Place made: England, Europe
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2007.7.228.2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Collection of James M. Caselli and Jonathan Mark Scharer
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.