Descriptions of the Work: "Mask, 1983" by James Brown
James Brown: Mask, Between Primitive Language and Pictorial Instinct
"Mask" is an iconic work by James Brown, created in 1983 in oil and graphite on cardboard, measuring 138 x 108 cm. The work fits perfectly into the artist's 1980s production, characterized by the fusion of archetypal and symbolic forms and an instinctive and material pictorial language.
The large central mask emerges from a white background, defined by a thick, dense layer of earthy colors, enlivened by accents of intense blue that evoke a primitive, ritualistic energy. The face, reduced to a few essential features, evokes an ancestral and universal image. Around the main figure, Brown has traced stylized human silhouettes and symbolic forms in graphite, which broaden the work's evocative register and underscore the tension between drawing and painting.
The artist's natural wood frame encloses and completes the composition, accentuating the work's object-like and totemic dimension. "Mask" demonstrates Brown's ability to combine primordial imagery with a contemporary pictorial sensibility, creating a figure that is simultaneously a ritual object, an interior self-portrait, and a universal symbol.
The painting is in perfect condition, signed, dated, and titled on the back, and comes from a private collection. It is registered in the James Brown Archives under number JB00949 and will be published in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné.
James Brown: Mask (1983). Oil and graphite on cardboard, 138 x 108 cm. Iconic work from the 1980s, archived.
