Death Mask of Herschel V. Jones c. 20th century

This bronze death mask of Herschel V. Jones sits here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a permanent record of a life, made anonymously. The mask is small, but the details are so precise. You can see the folds of his eyelids, the furrows in his brow, even the texture of his skin. I wonder who made it, and what their relationship was to Jones. Were they a friend, a family member, or simply a craftsman hired to perform this task? It must have been an emotional process, tracing the contours of his face, feeling the coolness of his skin. The artist captured a sense of dignity. It reminds me that art is always in conversation, reaching across time. We look at this mask and ponder not just Jones's life, but also the nature of mortality itself. Each artist responds to what came before, reinterpreting and reinventing, adding their own unique voice to the mix.