Cacciapuoti Tragic Mask, Italian Art Dèco figurative sculpture by Neapolitan artist Guido Cacciapuoti (Naples 1892- Milan 1953) depicting a tragic mask, made of ceramic, hand-molded and silver-plated on the front.
The sculpture is signed Cacciapuoti on the back and rests on a black lacquered wooden base, 16 x 10 x 10 cm high. It comes from the private collection of a Milan stage designer and is in good condition, with a beautiful oxidated patina.
This tragic mask is a plastic decorative element, a human face of singular expressive power, simplification of form, stylized and dramatic features. Like the shadow, the mask evokes the category of the double, it is like a veil that conceals in order to reveal. duality is indeed the emblem of Greek masks, the joyful one of comedy and the sad one of tragedy.
This dual sense of unveiling and concealment is well rendered by the dual etymology of the word: in Latin mask means person, while in Arabic the term maskharah means caricature, mockery.
It is a stylized and linear, very modern sculpture, ideal for both contemporary and antique settings.