Frank's Comic & Tragic Masks

Here are the photos of the comic and tragic masks which I commissioned Brunoalancing the yin and yang ball on one foot, while at his head --on the ground--lay the tragic and comic masks. He immediately provokes laughter from all who first see him. I was astonished at Bruno's artistry and skill level, when I first saw my jester.

And I told Franz, "I was afraid Bruno would make him (the jester) be too skinny , but look--he's pudgy. Fat, even!"
Franz explained seriously and slowly, "Well....it's customary when a person commissions a work of art for the artist to include some characteristics of the patron!"' I broke out laughing at that, and always tell people Franz's explanation.

I also tell others that the harlequin looks almost alive --"he looks like your slightly drunken brother-in-law at the New Year's eve party, who is now going to demonstrate his piece de resistance--standing or teetering on his head, while nearly falling over!"

Bruno also carved for us June's angel -- an ebullient heavenly musician with wondrous wings, playing a lute with a dreamy smile on her face -- completely captivating, and lovable. It's easy to believe in heaven while looking at her.

We also have in our home two other statues carved by Bruno. One is a clown, with all the "fixings" -- a round clown's nose, his shoes on the wrong feet, his head tilted up and to the side with a winningly innocent smile, his hat, baggy pants, and long, swallow-tailed coat are perfect, his umbrella handle is in his right hand while in his left he holds a large round flower like a sunflower.

Franz pointed out, "He'll invite you to smell his pretty flower -- and then squirt water in your face from the bulb concealed in his left hand! That's a typical clown trick," he laughed. Very provocative -- and I immediately wanted to buy him.

That was an October day in 1998, when we were finishing building June's "dream kitchen" and I wanted to get something that celebrated that. And there in Bruno's shop I saw a charming statue of a chef cooking a steak, leaning to his left while pouring wine which is coming out of a bottle he's holding over it in a pan on the stove.

He looks so competent, with his towel flung over his shoulder, his chef's hat tilted and so smilingly alive and satisfied with his skill that I was immediately drawn to him, and told Franz, "Wouldn't he just be perfect for our new kitchen. Now I want both of them, the clown and the chef. I can't decide which to get."

Sagely, Franz replied, "In cases like this, it's best to buy both."
"Perfect solution! Thank you, buddies are sent from God to help us make up our minds." Every day I see the chef and the clown standing near each other on our counter, smiling at us, and I think fleetingly of Franz and me making difficult decisions easily on that beautiful day in the lovely mountains of Münstertal.

And now I've taken 41 photos of the comic and tragic masks which grace our kitchen wall. I'll be sending them to Bruno, to refresh his memory while carving for me a "Provocative Therapy Coocoo Clock".

We talked it over last spring while I was there, and I asked that instead of birds and pine cones, could he carve a bunch of comic and tragic masks around the clock? Yes, he said, he could - "Naturlich..." and could he copy the marvelous comic and tragic masks he carved for me in 1999, smaller versions, of course, and place them at about "10 and 2 o'clock" around the perimeter of the clock face? "Kein problem" on that also. And instead of a cuckoo bird coming out of the top of the clock, could he have a small harlequin jump out, call "Coo-coo, coo-coo!!" , and then jump back inside his little hut?

Well.....that might be a little more difficult, and would depend on the mechanisms involved, which he ordered when building his cuckoo clocks. So we are in process. I'm hoping and praying. I think he would be a humorously charming addition to our Bruno Risterer collection, don't you?

That's all for now. Frank.