As cultural objects, masks have been used throughout the world in all time periods since the Stone Age and have been as varied in appearance as in their use and symbolism.

African Masks

The earliest masks are believed to be used in Africa before the Paleolithic era during rituals and ceremonies. That's roughly 700,000 years ago, also known as the Old Stone Age an ancient cultural stage, or level, of human development, characterized by the use of primitive chipped stone tools.

African masks have been used as ceremonial costumes for religious events to represent spiritual ancestors or to control the forces of good or evil. Primarily made of dried wood, that if cracked, it is not considered suitable for making masks. A tool called 'azde' is used for sculpting the wooden masks. Mask were also made with terracotta, glazed pottery, bronze, copper, ivory, and leather.

A mask used for spiritual purposes can often only be worn once and then thrown away or burned, once its function has been performed. An initiation mask seldom survives the ceremony.

African masks are worn in three ways:

• Vertically covering the face
• As helmets, encasing the entire head
• As a crest, resting upon the head which is commonly covered by material or fibre to continue the disguise

https://www.contemporary-african-art.com/african-masks.html

Ancient Greeks

Ancient Greeks are credited with turning ritual into ritual-drama with the “creation of theatre” and brought masks with that merger. Masks were used to represent, honor, worship and depict their mythological gods. The masks were over-sized and exaggerated. They were fitted about the mouth of the actor, and assisted the actors with projecting their voices over such a vast amount of space. The Greeks brought the making of theatrical masks to the height of their development thus far, and laid the path for the making of masks within the theatrical world.

Middle Ages –

During the mystery plays era of the 12th 13th Centuries, masks were worn to dramatize the character to the extreme. Mystery plays were written (often by church clerics, priests or ministers) to show the public how bad sin was and what they should do in order to redeem themselves. The messages in these plays were blunt and straightforward, not unlike the masks used. The masks were grotesque, usually depicting Satan or one of his monstrous minions. It is said that these masks were marvels to look at, despite the fact that they were constructed out of papier mache.

Korean Masks

Masks were used in theatrical plays that were means of expressing criticism against everything that was considered wrong, like powerful aristocracy, Buddhist hierarchy, corruption, drunkards, gossips and flirts. In a way, they freed people to talk about the things that were unacceptable, by law or socially.

Chinese Masks

Chinese masks are known to have been used in spiritual rituals of the old. Masks developed and expanded to other parts of life, culture, and in performances. Festive masks are used during celebrations, especially during Chinese New Year. Theatrical masks are worn or even painted on faces in Chinese opera and other theatrical presentations. With masks, audience is able to read character of a role at one glance. That is possible because of strict symbolism of colors that are used for painting the masks. Red symbolizes positive values of the character such as loyalty, heroism and courage. Purple can be used instead of red but can also symbolize sophistication and justice. Black is color for characters that have integrity, that are impartial and neutral. Blue can also be a color of neutral character but can also mean wisdom, stubbornness and fierceness. Green is reserved for characters that lack self-control, that are violent and impulsive. Yellow and white paint cruel characters and characters that are hypocrites and evil.

Renaissance Italy

in 15th Century Venice, the revolutionary art form commedia dell arte was invented. This was an improvisational comedy consisting of characters so ridiculous in moral, that it was fundamental that the masks be ridiculous. It is said that the masks in commedia dell arte are both concealing and revealing – to what this means, check them out and see what you think they mean by that statement.

Japanese Noh Masks

Noh is an art form popularized in Japan that utilizes masks, there is a great variety of them. There were originally about 60 basic types of noh masks, but today there are well over 200 different kinds in use.

Noh’s founder, Zeami, is one of the most important historical figures in Japanese theatre. A collection of his treatises on noh, “Fūshi Kaden,” was published some 200 years before Shakespeare’s theatrical debut. Exactly when the noh mask came into being is not entirely clear however it is believed that masks, and their names still used today, were developed from the mid to latter part of the Muromachi period (1392-1573). Previous to that time, the mask conventions were not entirely set and masks themselves had stronger religious connotations.

Japanese theaters have been around since the 14th century and are broken down into 3 groups:

1. Noh Theater - Is the oldest form of traditional Japanese theater based on Zen Buddhist depicting life and death. The main actor wear painted masks.

Noh is a symbolic theater that is focused on ancient rituals and language. It's sister art form Kyogen is made to make people laugh.

2. Kabuki Theater - is a traditional form of Japanese play that focuses on the love or historical events. The characters will paint their faces white.

3. Bunraku Theater - is a traditional form of Japanese puppet theater.