Studing Plastic Arts And Folk Culture Of Yunnan Nuo Opera Masks

Nuo Sacrifice is a rite of Totem Worship period in ancient times. Meanwhile, NuoOpera is evolved and born out from Nuo Sacrifice activities and it is often performed bywearing masks. Nuo Opera Mask is an important prop in Nuo Opera performance andcontains profound folk meanings. Moreover, Nuo Opera Mask itself is also one treasurein the art treasure house, and it shines as a unique plastic art and follows its own rules ofplastic arts. Its modeling often varies with different roles.Through the studies on the folk culture meaning, modeling classification, modelingcharacteristic, modeling motivation, inheritance and preservation and many otheraspects of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask, this paper allows more readers to have an betterunderstating of the unique charm of plastic arts of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask, get toknow the connotations of folk culture, realize the importance to protect it, and make acontribution to prevent this precious art from decline.This paper can be divided into six parts in total and stretches out in a logicalsequence from theoretical analysis to concrete practice. Part I conducts a brief overviewto the origin, distribution and type of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask; Part II expounds thefolk culture meaning of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask; Part III classifies Yunnan Nuo OperaMask into three categories, including Noble God Mask, Evil God Mask and MundaneMask based on roles played by characters and their corresponding mental feelings. Inaddition, this part also analyzes modeling characteristics of Yunnan Nuo Opera Maskrespectively from material, process, facial form, color and decoration. Part IV expoundsthe folk culture meaning of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask. Part V analyzes the modelingmotivations of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask from natural factor, historical factor, culturalfactor and social factor. Meanwhile, it also reveals that the modeling and characteristicof Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask is the result of the interactions of the above several factors.The last part makes some theoretical conceptions to the inheritance and protection ofplastic arts value of Yunnan Nuo Opera Mask and also carries out specific explorationsbased on the inheritance&protection measures and the development&application ofNuo Opera Mask.