Theatrum Mundi ("the theatre of the world”) describes the diversity of masks and performances that originated from the violent struggles between European, Arabic and “New World” civilizations. This authoritative study celebrates over 500 years of Mexican and South American Indigenous dance dramas and explains how mask makers, religious practitioners, masqueraders and entrepreneurs have helped to continuously reinvent, revitalize and express the changing world around them. The culmination of four decades of research by Dr. Anthony Shelton, professor of art history and director of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia, the text is illustrated by field photographs and images from MOA and other notable mask collections.

Anthony Alan Shelton's profile page

Anthony Alan Shelton is Professor of Art History, Visual Arts and Theory and Director of the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia. His numerous publications include Museums and Changing Perspectives of Culture (1995), Fetishism: Visualizing Power and Desire (1995), Collectors (two volumes, 2001), and Heaven, Hell and Somewhere in Between: Portuguese Popular Art (2015). He has curated fourteen exhibitions in Canada, Europe and the UK.