Last week the Gimcrack sent nursemyra on a Senior First Aid Refresher course where I was given my very own take home blow up doll
The instructor told us all a story about the doctor who developed mouth to mouth resuscitation having a daughter named Annie who died, saying CPR Annie was modelled and named for her. This is not actually true as the face used was that of a French girl who drowned in the Seine
Death masks were common in the 18th and 19th century and were kept for the purpose of identification of unknown corpses before photography was invented. Many writers and eminent scientists also had their features recorded for posterity in this way.
Death masks of Keats and Tesla found here
Another kind of mask with an interesting history is the gas mask.
One such design began as a “Safety Hood and Smoke Protector” invented by Garrett A. Morgan in 1912, and patented in 1914. It was a simple device, consisting of a cotton hood with two hoses which hung down to the floor, allowing the wearer to breathe the safer air found there. Morgan won acclaim for his device when in 1916 he, his brother, and two other volunteers used his device to rescue numerous men from the gas and smoke-filled tunnels beneath Lake Erie in the Cleveland Waterworks.
Excellent collection of gas mask photos here
Masks of this type have also been eroticized as a fetish. If that’s your thing you’ll find a lot of photos here
Stephen cast the faces of several of his artist friends for an exhibition in 2004 called Cosmos. You can see some examples here at the New Zealand Chartwell Collection website.
Bizarre stuff…but consider me a Stephen Birch fan!!
Why does that one gas mask chick has have a penis for a hand? That’s a fetish I’m not familiar with, or a fetish I can even begin to comprehend.
I think if you contemplate it long enough, the eroticism emerges…..
It’s erotic and confusing. I’m not sure how to process it. That’s probably the point.
Hi nurse,
This is a bizarre coincidence, but I wrote my latest post before seeing this. That photo has been sitting in my draft folder for months.
Or is it just that we’re both a little late for Hallowe’en?
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. ~Oscar Wilde
But give a woman a mask, and she’ll get naked. ~Me
Just another reason why I believe that one day Scott will be famous.
Due to the extensive renovations here at the castle, we’ve been left with an open sewer for the weekend (the plumber will be put to the sword at noon tomorrow). If only I’d thought of the the good old gasmask we might have enjoyed ourselves a lot more.
The King (cough, splutter)
Did you see Scott’s comment above?
The History Channel just aired a show n death masks. I recorded it and I am watching it now as we speak.
Sunny Sunday #5 – Paper Sol
One mans fetish is anothers mans dreams. A mask is merely a dream of which we all hide behind.
“Come, spirits, unmask me here!” Lady Macbeth
I have always had a thing about the death mask that I don’t understand. I don’t want to look but have to. It’s like being a peeping tom into their most private moment, their death.
I am fascinated by them too
Stephen was a very accomplished artist!
OMG…that girl on the right with the gas mask!!
You know I had to look, right? That was very strange and enlightening for an early Sunday morning. I know you’ll always unearth the good stuff, Myra.
love the cosmos installation… don’t know what it is, though, but death masks freak me out…
hmmm…i’m seeing lots of creative ideas for my next Halloween costume. well, that, or just for alone-late-at-night. help me convince my costume partner to wear one of those neonasty masks?
Wearing a gas mask and having sex — umm–but I’d say that would prevent a lot of pleasurable activities. What’s the point then?
Gas masks I can handle but those old underwater helmets divers use to wear scare the living crap out of me
Gas masks are also the scariest looking pieces of legitimate equipment a person can wear. They’re just plain creepy.
My teen has a huge fear of gas masks so I better not show her some of the images (not that I would let her venture into Gimcrack land to see these, well not for a couple of years yet)
N.M. That was an AWESOME post.
i never liked wearing masks. they are hot and uncomfortable.
on other people, masks almost always look scary.
the best mask of all time belonged to the lone ranger.
Where can I get an Australian doll who will blow me?
Here
http://missyhiggins.com/missy_base.swf
CPR is so easy to do know, even a numbskull can do it.
I was shocked at how they took everything out of it the last time I got certified.
I really like those heads of Stephen’s. To me they look like some sort of humanoid fungus thing ready to multiply all over the walls. I find the Annie and the Tesla death masks beautiful; peaceful. Hey, Jimmy, I think there’s a Ned Kelly one in existence too, but perhaps you already know that.
I love the Keats one….
this was very interesting, i didnt’ know abotu the death masks NM, those last masks freak me out and stephen’s resume is quite impressive!! WoW!
Ooops! Yes. I meant Keats not Tesla.
Well, there’s nothing like a fetish to make us boring normal people wonder about the rest of the world. I’m not sure what is sexy about a gas mask, although the models you feature above are truly long stemmed beauties.