Portraits in Plaster, from the Collection of Laurence Hutton

"Portraits in Plaster, from the Collection of Laurence Hutton" by Laurence Hutton is a journey into a unique collection of plaster masks and the stories they tell, created in the late 1800s. Hutton's work is about his collection, which mixes the faces of historical icons like Sir Isaac Newton with stars of the stage like Edwin Booth, showing how these masks are real records of who these people were. Hutton also shares the story about finding some old masks in a New York dustbin, explaining how the collection got started and giving backgrounds on masks that show figures like Dante and Tasso. He highlights the truthfulness of these plaster faces without artistic changes, describes the work it took to make them, and talks about trying to figure out who some of the people were. Through this intro, Hutton shows the importance of these art pieces as real connections to history.