Plaster mould for “mask” which would have been made with clay, dried, and then painted.
‘Tis a rare thing to find a date on Dad’s work. I’ve been looking for clues to dates on all the items as I’ve been going along, so I can piece something together in terms of which decades, at least, various items were produced. From an art history point of view, it will be interesting to look dispassionately at the various trends in his work, and how they related and developed over time, particularly as the range moves from highly stylized geometric forms to very loose painterly styles, sometimes in synchrony, sometimes at odds with each other.
Anyhow, I have two boxes marked “Mask mould(s)”. This plaster of paris mould was wrapped in crumpled, yellowing Bideford newspapers, inside a St. Ivel Cheddar cheese box, fittingly from the Republic of Ireland, with a nice green shamrock image on the box (perhaps it could be mistaken for a lucky four-leaved clover?). Looking for a date clue, I sifted through the newspaper clumps: “The Advertiser” had helpful references to the month and date – but no year! How odd. I guessed it might have been possible to find a news item or advert with the year date, but felt disinclined to get murkily grey fingers, so I moved on.
Eureka! I noticed the date on a piece of “The Gazette”, a whole few pages across the width of the small broadsheet reporting on “high fashion”, “maternity wear” and the “keep fit bug”. (From what I remember of North Devon, I’d definitely go along with “maternity wear” being of interest to the local readers, perhaps the “keep fit bug”…but “high fashion”?) However. Yes, there was a date: March 28th 1986. What an (easy) sleuthing triumph!
Reverse of plaster mould
I took the photo, recorded “1 no. plaster mould” on my inventory, and then turned the mould over to record the reverse. What a reassuring and confirmatory surprise! – There, sgraffito’d into the chalky surface, a date, with initials:
25-3-86 GKB
So he must have packed the mask not very long after it was made, or kept back issues of newspapers for the task: either way, I’m happy to have a benchmark for some of the work.
The second box, a “Sunripe dessicated coconut products” box, is yet to be opened - I’ll let you know what I find.
Sophie
