2024 № 4 (51)
The Phenomenon of the Group Mask: Origins, Options, Meanings
UDC 7.046.1; 688.751; 792.01
LBC 85.330
DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2024-4-120-145
For cit.: Gubanova G.I. The Phenomenon of the Group Mask: Origins, Options, Meanings. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2024, no. 4, pp. 120–145. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226‐0072‐2024‐4‐120‐145. (In Russian)
Gubanova Galina I.
PhD (in Art History), Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Television Technologies, Institute of Social Engineering, A.N. Kosygin Russian State University (Technologies. Design. Art), 1 Malaya Kaluzhskaya Str., Moscow, 119071, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8102-4412
ResearcherID: KOC-7931-2024
The Phenomenon of the Group Mask: Origins, Options, Meanings
Abstract. The article raises the issue of the functioning of a stable group of characters and examines the manifestation of archetypal themes and images in the form of a structure which the author of the article defines as a group mask. The research reveals the phenomenon of group mask formation based on a mythologem. The mythologem chosen for the study is ‘the Guardians of Earth’. It is concluded that through various eras and types of art, a group mask is transformed from primary characteristics of characters’ special abilities and functions to specification of psychological traits. A numerical marker loses its connection with the sacred meaning of numbers and becomes a marker of a mythologem and the psychological structure of a group. A mythologem is presented as a tool for identifying and interpreting various images and characters. In light of the mask-face dichotomy, the article touches upon the problem of perception of a face. Many characters without faces are proposed to be considered in line with the psychological data on special perception of faces. The image of the absence of a face in works of art is explored from the perspective of prosopagnosia. The connotations of depicting characters without faces are determined in the context of group mask research. The origins and transformation of a group mask in various eras and types of art are considered against the background of the existence of mythologems in modern audience perception. The article traces the intrusion of universal models in the language of popular culture and the emergence of novelty in the context of repeating universals.
Keywords: mythologeme, mask, novelty, replication, without a face, prosopagnosia, K.S. Malevich, numerical marker, tetramorph
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Received 04.06.2024
Accepted 05.09.2024
