The Coleman-Ladd Mask
The Coleman Ladd mask consists of a painted image upon a thin galvanised copper sheet measuring some 155mm wide, 100mm high and 120mm from front to back.
A plaster cast of the subject’s face having been made, the lost features were then translated to, and restored as desired, in clay or plasticine.
From this a thin copper sheet reproduction has been beaten and moulded to replicate the shape. As was common in this type of device, it has been incorporated into a pair of plain glass spectacles so that it could be easily retained in place. String was also often used for the same purpose. It has been carefully painted by Coleman-Ladd in naturalistic flesh tones which she would have matched specifically to the skin of the intended owner. She sometimes used real hair to simulate moustaches and eyebrows. This form of prosthetic work still undertaken with modern materials in limited circumstances today.
We have no information about the person who wore our mask, except that they were American and had the mask made for them in Paris during the First World War.
The mask was donated anonymously to the former Gillies Archive run by Andrew Bamji, and was donated by him to the BAPRAS Antony Wallace Archive, now the Collection in 2013.
Watch this video of Anna Coleman Ladd working with servicemen in her Paris Studio (not BAPRAS)