The story began completely by accident. During the carnival, Władysław Teodor Benda received an invitation to a masked ball. As the recipient was one of the most creative and industrious people, he decided to create something special for the occasion. He used pieces of stiff paper and glue. It was in February 1914 when the prototype of the famous masks - the Benda masks - was created.

The first masks created by Władysław Benda
The first mask created by Władysław Teodor Benda was the 'Blue Demon' (original Blue Demon, 1914-1939). It was the one that covered the artist's face during the aforementioned carnival ball and underwent numerous improvements over the next few years. In one interview, the creator cited details of how the mask was saved, as he threw it in the garbage after the party. Thanks to the fact that the servant cleaning the studio was negligent in his duties, the mask haunted the artist. "Every time I passed by the dumpster, it stared at me. Eventually I succumbed and took it out to experiment a bit. And that's how I've been making masks ever since," he added in his memoirs published in Ladies' Home Journal.

He made the masks by hand, according to his own idea, design, sketches and a completely original technique based on creating skeletons and putting layers of paper on them, then gilding and painting them. It was a time-consuming activity, requiring precision and patience. In an interview, Benda mentioned that he creates between five and six masks a year.

After his death, it was mentioned in the press that there were around 80 masks kept in his home collection. At present, it is impossible to determine definitively the number of 'false faces' he created, not least because there is no specific information left by the artist himself. The exhibits have also dispersed to private and institutional collections or have been destroyed.

Benda masks in film, theatre, advertising
The masks were a phenomenon of their time. They took pride of place in the scripts of New York revues, directed by one of the most famous artists, John Murray Anderson. They covered the faces of dancers in many theatres - Margaret Severn or Ada Forman. They have given rise to numerous theoretical texts on masks in theatre and to authoritative entries, for example in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The expression 'Benda masks' was a common term both in the press, in books and in theatre and television. The artist's work enchanted the English writer Sax Rohmer, who used the term in his novels. "[M]ay have a face similar to Benda masks: intelligent but lifeless," he wrote in The Persian Portfolio (1938).

Wladyslaw Reymont and the masks of Wladyslaw Benda
Benda's works cast a spell on many of the artist's friends and acquaintances - including Wladyslaw Reymont, who was visiting the United States. The writer was enchanted by the mask of a young woman hanging on the wall. "He continually returned and faced her, contemplated her, hesitantly touched her cheeks, expressed his admiration," W.T. Benda recalled in his article The Making of Masks. As the writer was leaving America, an extraordinary story happened, which the artist recounted as follows - "a quarter of an hour after we had parted and I was watching him drive away in a taxi, the doorbell of my studio rang. I opened it and saw a breathless Reymont. "I forgot something," he choked out. He stormed inside, walked straight up to the bonnet and kissed it, then momentarily walked out."

Władysław Benda mask for Katharine Hepburn
Among other things, the artist created a mask-portrait of the actress Katharine Hepburn, who at the time appeared in the film Dragon Seed. The mask was on display during the promotion of the film. "The sight of Katharine Hepburn always makes me think of Benda masks," was a sentence that appeared in the Washington Post newspaper, in a column describing observations from Hollywood.

In 1920, the masks appeared a couple of times in the pages of Vanity Fair. The photographic session was initiated by an admirer of the works, the magazine's editor-in-chief at the time and privately a friend of the artist, Frank Crownishield. The photographers were Maurice Goldberg and Arnold Genthe. The published photographs were another element in the avalanche of popularity of the Benda Masks. In the 1920s, it was in fashion among New York socialites to own 'society masks'. They were also known as "false faces" and "paper children", as the creator himself used to say of them, and they still inspire admiration and appreciation today. "Benda has accomplished what only a true artist could do. By reviving an old art, he has invented a new one," wrote Frank Crowninshield.

The beginnings of Władysław T. Benda's creative path
However, before Władysław T. Benda began to successfully create masks, he was involved in many other fields of art. He was a famous illustrator, painter, craftsman designing and making fabrics and furniture, stage designer, costume designer, academic lecturer, actor and publicist.

The artist was born in the winter of 15 January 1873 in Poznań. He was one of three children of the musician Jan Szymon Benda, nephew of the well-known and highly regarded actress Helena Modrzejewska. He briefly received his artistic education at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow (today's Academy of Fine Arts) and at the private Viennese School of Fine Arts of Heinrich Strehblow. Nevertheless, it was not until the summer of 1898 that a trip to the United States of America and a decision to remain there permanently provided Benda with the conditions for a significant artistic career.
He began on the West Coast, where he created costume designs and illustrated elaborate menus or ex libris commissioned by Modrzejewska's aunt. He probably also tried his hand as a professional illustrator.

Władysław Benda as an illustrator for monthly magazines and books
He later moved east to New York, a city with which he associated his entire life. "I came to New York persuaded by Joseph Chapin, then art director of ‛Scribner's Magazine'. He looked at my sketches and said I could illustrate for him. That's when I started creating illustrations for monthly magazines and books," Vladislav Teodor Benda recalled in his biographical manuscript. Illustrating for the prestigious Scribner's Magazine was tantamount to exhibiting at the Paris Salon, which ennobled the artist and opened all possible doors for him.

Illustrations with Pole's name appeared in more than 40 magazines and newspapers printed throughout the United States, as well as in books: My Ántonia by Willa Cather or stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and Jack London. In addition, he was the author of advertisements and propaganda posters from the First and Second World Wars (including those urging recruitment into Polish army units in France).

Władysław Benda as assessed by contemporary researchers
Today, W.T Benda is assessed as one of the more important pillars of the "Golden Era of American illustration". His specific line, his somewhat Slavic style, full of delicacy laced with emotion and mystery, as well as his commitment to his work and his excellent ability to adapt to the expectations of the market of the time, created around his figure a reputation as a good and significant American artist.

At 15 E 65th Street in New York, in the main hall of the historic building, three masks by Wladyslaw T. Benda are displayed in an oblong white display case. Sleeping in it are Golden Beauty (original: Golden Beauty, 1920), Voyevode (original: Voyevode, 1925) and Cherokee (original: Circassian, 1917). The works were donated by the artist himself to the Kosciuszko Foundation, whose headquarters are located in this very building. The Foundation is not the only owner of Benda's masks; many are in the hands of the artist's grandchildren, with private collectors, in the collection of the Society of Illustrators in New York, or - as in the case of Helena Modrzejewska's head - in the collection of the Polish Museum in Chicago.