Your attention must be drawn to the importance of the masks used within the Lassaâd School. All the masks were made by Amleto Sartori and Donato Sartori.
Birth of the Neutral Mask:
The Neutral Mask was born from the collaboration of Jacques Lecoq and Amleto Sartori who was a great sculptor and the first to rediscover how to make the Commedia dell’Arte masks in leather. Other types of masks: the expressive masks were developed in Amleto’s studios in Abano Terme.
Following on from his father, Donato Sartori continued his research into the design and wearing of the masks. Together with Paola Piizi, they founded the MUSEO INTERNAZIONALE DELLA MASCHERA AMLETO E DONATO SARTORI.
Using the Neutral Mask:
It is first and foremost a magnificent object, then a fundamental teaching instrument. It has now become what we know it to be: at times respected, and at times mistreated or used in a way that bears little resemblance to its original objective.
This can be easily seen in the often anarchic use it is put to in numerous places and workshops.
Thirty years ago academic institutions disparaged Neutral Mask work in actor training. Today they make use of it but sadly without any degree of mastery and recognition of its origin.
