IN A WORLD WITHOUT A FACE: ENSOR’S AND KUBRICK’S USE OF MASKS

Abstract

The paper discusses the use of masks in the works of Belgian painter James Ensor and American director Stanley Kubrick. Special attention is paid to Ensor’s paintings after 1883 and to the genesis of motive of mask in his works produced by the end of 1930’s. The connection is being established between Kubrick’s films and Ensor’s paintings, in order to indicate a change in the understanding and use of masks as a means for exposing the true face of social relations. The paper focuses on the analysis of the Somerton ball sequence in Kubric’s film Eyes Wide Shut in the context of the perceived relations with specific works of Ensor.