Venetian Masks - Mask-making A Revived Tradition Mask-making is a newly revived tradition, up until the
early 1980's Venetian mask-making had completely died-out. Venetian Architecture
Students in the early 1980's led by Mario Belloni decided to revive the
tradition, this was also catalytic in reviving the Venice Carnival. At
the time the students, partly out of necessity and partly for fun, tried
creating the first models and selling them in the squares and along the
alleys. These were only attempts at mask making, since nobody really knew
what materials to use or what techniques to adopt. It was a real adventure
to create the first models, to revive an ancient craft and transform a
bit of fun into a proper job, Just as fascinating for them was rediscovering
the meaning. If you are looking for a Masked Ball party, see our Events
Page [Here]
Venetian Masks - A brief History
Masks in Venice once had enormous significance in social relations, to
such an extent that in some cases they were made compulsory by law, and
over the centuries masks makers had considerably refined their art. But,
with the fall of the Venetian Republic at the end of the 18th century,
the use and tradition of Venetian masks gradually began to decline, until
they disappeared altogether. At that time, hardly anything of this tradition
remained in the culture and collective conscience of the Venetian people,
and only slight traces could be found in obscure volumes buried in the
libraries. See our Mask Galleries [Here]
Eyes Wide
Shut
More recently, the Venetian mask was brought to mainstream attention in
a 1999 Hollywood movie by Stanley Kubrick, 'Eyes Wide Shut' starring Tom
Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The film featured the mask to good effect as
part of a ritual where the players identities were masked. Stanley Kubrick
visited a number of maskmakers during his research for the film. It is
likely he used masks from many of the shops, but we know for certain that
one of our suppliers had some of his masks used for the film. You can
buy some of these masks in our online [Shop]
. Or read more about the film here [Eyes
Wide Shut]
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