They are beguiling, charming and sometimes disturbing. Others grin or stare at you.
These are traditional Venetian masks, and a large number of them are on display in the sprawling exhibition space of the Venice Art Studio/Mask Factory. It is a fascinating and unexpected attraction, not in Italy, but in Shkodër, Albania, a city known for arts and crafts.
From the Venice Art mask factory in Shkodër, Albania.
David Moin
Shipped from the factory to cities around the world, these colorful, elaborate and often over-the-top curiosities are a staple of the Venice Carnival, the Shkodër Carnival, Mardi Gras, and masked balls and parades around the world. Masks were a central part of life in Venice centuries ago, allowing people of different classes to mingle without being recognized or ridiculed, and to engage in gambling or other uninhibited behavior that was frowned upon or illegal at the time.
Masks from the Venice Art Factory can also be seen in stage productions and films. The most famous masks are those worn by Tom Cruise and other actors in the Stanley Kubrick classic Eyes Wide Shut. Aside from their theatrical merits, the masks are often purchased as decorative pieces for the home.
“Everything you see here – all the masks – we treat as works of art,” Edmond Angoni, founder and owner of Venice Art, tells a visitor to the Venice Art facility.
“These are beautiful, traditional Venetian masks, unlike the 85 percent of Venetian-style masks you see that are not real Venetian masks because they come from China or other Asian countries and are made of cheap material like plastic,” Angoni says through an interpreter. “It’s easy to make a million of these masks out of plastic. My philosophy is to create masks as art.”
“Every mask made here is unique,” adds Angoni. “We create 1,700 different models throughout the year. No two are the same. A certain style is modified by different colors or finishes, but no two masks are ever the same. It takes 10, 11, 12 hands to complete a mask.”
Ultimately, the factory produces about 20,000 masks annually, plus 10 highly sophisticated and decorated one-of-a-kind pieces that are not reproduced or altered.
The creative process involves hand-working clay to form a shape onto which layers of papier-mâché are glued. The surfaces are smoothed, bleached and painted in bright colors, then decorated with precious metals, gems, feathers, beads, fur, leather, lace or crystals, depending on the mask. “It’s a long process,” and a mask can take anywhere from one day to three weeks to make, depending on the size, level of detail and level of ornamentation, Angoni explains.
Venice Art’s facility is located on an 8,000 square meter site. There is a workshop where 20 artists design and make the masks, and another five workers apply the papier-mâché. There is also an exhibition room where about 2,500 masks are on display, as well as offices.
During peak season (April to September), 50 to 100 tourists visit Venice Art every day. They usually come on bus tours. Smaller masks are available from 20 euros, larger ones can cost 3,000 euros or more and can be delivered to people’s homes.
In the exhibition room, Angoni brings out one of his favorite masks, the “plague doctor mask,” originally worn by doctors during the plague in the 14th century. It is characterized by its long beak, which allowed doctors to keep their distance from the patient and put aromatic herbs in the beak to mask the smell of the infected person.
Two centuries later, masks were worn by characters from the comedy of arts (The masks were used in the Commedia dell’arte theater, such as Harlequin, Bauta, Arlecchino and Colombina, to evoke their personality and emotions. Such masks are recreated by Angoni and his team and “remain faithful to the original style of the masks,” says Angoni.
Edmond Angoni shows the “plague doctor” mask with beak.
David Moin
“Since childhood, I was interested in art, literature, painting, sculpture and foreign languages. They were like windows through which you could learn about the world. In Albania at that time, you couldn’t learn about the world because of the regime,” says Angoni, referring to the repressive communist regime that isolated the country from the world until democratic reforms were implemented in the early 1990s.
At the age of 35, Angoni emigrated from Albania to Italy, where he lived in Padua and Venice from 1991 to 1997. He worked in what he describes as “simple immigrant jobs.” But during his time in Italy, he met and learned from master mask makers, which awakened his artistic instinct.
After returning to Albania, Angoni converted a former tomato processing plant into his mask factory and showroom. “At the time, there was skepticism that masks made here in Albania could be exported to Italy,” says Angoni. At first, he supplied blank, undecorated papier-mâché masks to shops in Venice. “Starting this business was like an adventure. I didn’t know if I would succeed or not, but I did.”
“The turning point was when I bought my first shop in Venice in 1999. Then the business grew year after year and we designed more and more models for theaters, film sets and shops,” including several that he bought. “Now we have seven shops in Venice and one in Las Vegas,” he says. The masks are also shipped to cities around the world to what Angoni put as luxury shops that sell art.
The “Harlequin” mask is inspired by a character from the Commedia dell’arte.
David Moin
Angoni says the masks have a mystical aura and evoke a feeling of freedom. “People tend to lie in general, so if you put on a mask, you can tell the truth,” he says. “You can hide behind the truth.” He paraphrases Oscar Wilde, who wrote in his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”: “Man is least himself when he speaks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth.”
A scene from “Eyes Wide Shut” with Tom Cruise standing alone. Warner Bros.
Everett Collection / Everett Collection
Historically, “wealthy people in particular wore masks to blend in with other people who were in disguise,” Angoni says. “They had their vices. They needed masks to gamble or to go to parties and stay hidden in the crowd.”
Casanova, the famous womanizer, wore the “Bauta” mask, which became known as the Casanova mask. “It is the oldest mask in Venice, about 700 years old,” says Angoni. It covers the entire face, including the mouth, but has a prominent chin and jaw, making it comfortable to eat and speak with.
The variety of masks in the showroom of Venice Art in Albania.
David Moin
“In a high-tech era, this kind of artisanal work in mask making is becoming increasingly rare, and that’s what sustains our growth,” says Angoni. “This is an art, not an industry. It’s a limited market, but I’m finding ways to reach art lovers.”
“My biggest concern is how to carry this tradition forward into the future,” says Angoni, who is in his mid-60s. His son, he notes, “has taken a different direction.”
“I’m afraid that it will all end up in a museum,” says Angoni. “Venice Art has been around for 27 years. There is a family spirit among the employees. I want to pass on this tradition.”
“For the sake of this tradition and for the sake of Shkodra, local policies should be developed to support the mask factory,” says Angoni. “It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Shkodra and all of Albania.”
The Venice Art mask factory in Albania.
David Moin
