Hello niobium
Anna Coleman Watts Ladd was the American sculptor who made enamelled
copper masks for soldiers with terrible facial disfigurement. She
started this work after hearing of an English artist, Francis Derwent
Wood, who was using oils on silver electroplate for similar masks.
I hope that the following excerpts and links will lead you to plenty
of information. Please just ask if you would like me to clarify
anything, and I'll be happy to help.
Best wishes - Leli
"Ladd?s most unusual contribution was made during World War I. In 1917
she accompanied her husband to France where both of them served in the
American Red Cross (ARC). He ran a hospital and she opened a studio
known as ARC Portrait Studio where she made ?new faces? for disfigured
soldiers. These ?portrait masks? were made of thin copper and enameled
in skin tones to provide a cosmetic screen for those awaiting
reconstructive surgery. In some cases, because plastic surgery was not
advanced enough at the time, these masks served as a permanent
cosmetic device. In total she made 60 masks and trained others to
continue her work. For these efforts she was awarded the French
Chevalier of the Legion of Honor."
http://www.bwht.org/winter2003_2.html
"Mrs. Ladd sculpted "portrait masks" of thin copper on which the
missing portion of the face was modeled, the finished mask was
enameled in skin tones and hair was added if appropriate. The masks
were both more comfortable and more protective than bandages for those
missing facial features or large sections of bone and mitigated to
some degree the soldier?s sensitivity about his appearance. Mrs. Ladd
completed 60 masks before training another ARC volunteer, Mary Louise
Brent, and two French sculptors in her technique and returning to
Boston."
http://www.gendergap.com/military/usmil5.htm
Links to a brief biography, images of her sculptures and more at AskArt
http://www.askart.com/artist/L/anna_coleman_watts_ladd.asp?ID=88882
"She read about the work an English sculptor was doing in making masks
for soliders who had been disfigured on the battlefield. Instantly,
she recognized her calling. She developed her techniques with the
Englishman and eventually established the Red Cross Studio in Paris to
make masks for the facially disfigured."
http://blogs.salon.com/0003346/2004/01/29.html
There is a picture of Anna Coleman Ladd with a French soldier on page 34 of:
Venus Envy: A History of Cosmetic Surgery
by Elizabeth Haiken
Johns Hopkins Univ Press (February 2000)
You can see it by using the Amazon "search inside" feature, if you
register with a credit card number:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/080186254X/ref=sib_vae_dp/104-8273820-5884716?%5Fencoding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books
"Wood was bothered by the suicides and by the reaction of relatives to
the soldier with a visible facial wound,[and]he requested the
opportunity to establish a small workshop to create masks to cover
terrible facial wounds. "The Masks for Facial Disfigurements
Department" was born. Once it was clear that the wounds had completely
healed and the surgeons had done their best, Wood molded a mask from
the patient's face. The masks involved an incredible amount of
attention to detail - they were recast several times, and delicately
painted in oil paints. When necessary, glass eyes and facial hair
(made of thin slivers of silver) were added. The masks allowed these
men to face the world, as some had lingered in hospitals longer than
necessary because they feared appearing in public. The masks were
delicate silverplated electroplate and were estimated to last only a
couple of years, so it would be interesting to discover the ultimate
fate of these men once the masks wore out.
http://groups.msn.com/CanadaWorldWarOnetheFirstContingent/repairingmaimedfaces.msnw
You will find more on both sculptors' careers by exploring these search results:
"Anna Coleman Ladd" OR "Anna Coleman Watts Ladd"
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22anna+coleman+ladd%22+OR+%22anna+coleman+watts+ladd%22&btnG=Search&meta=
"Derwent Wood" mask OR masks
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22derwent+wood%22+mask+OR+masks&btnG=Search&meta=
Derwent Wood
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22derwent+wood%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Successful searches:
copper face mask "after the war"
masks facial disfigurement 1918 |
