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How a Sculptor Came to the Help of Disfigured Veterans
American Sculptor Anna Coleman Gave a New Life to the Disfigured Veterans of WWI With Their ‘Portrait Masks’.
Warning: this article contains graphic images that may be disturbing to some readers. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
The background of a national disaster.
Toward the end of WWI, millions of soldiers were returning from the trenches, some of them bearing the terrible marks of trench warfare.
Before the Great War, facial wounds could certainly be life threatening but were still a lesser concern than infections, amputations and loss of limbs.
But the introduction of modern weaponry, such as heavy artillery, machine guns and poison gas, would change forever the military experience. The distance between opposite trenches was making the situation even riskier as the combatants seemed to be thinking they could peer rapidly enough into the enemy position with impunity, while dodging their fire. But, even with the protection of their steel helmets, they tragically were finding out that it did not work that way.
