Anna Coleman Ladd

Anna Coleman Ladd (1878–1939) was an American sculptor known for her contributions to the field of prosthetics during World War I. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ladd studied sculpture in Paris and Rome before marrying physician Maynard Ladd in 1905. The couple moved to Boston, where Anna Coleman Ladd established herself as a prominent sculptor, creating fountains, memorials, and portrait busts.

In 1917, inspired by the work of French sculptor Francis Derwent Wood, who founded the “Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department” in London, Ladd founded the American Red Cross Studio for Portrait-Masks in Paris. Her studio provided custom-made masks for soldiers who had suffered facial injuries during the war. These masks, crafted from thin copper and painted to match the wearer's skin tone, were designed to restore the appearance of the face and, it was hoped, the soldier's sense of normalcy and dignity.

Ladd's work at the studio was pioneering in the field of facial prosthetics. She and her team created more than 150 masks, offering psychological relief to soldiers who were often self-conscious about their appearance and hesitant to return to civilian life. The process of creating each mask involved making a plaster cast of the soldier's face, sculpting a model in clay to restore the missing parts, casting the model in copper, and then meticulously painting the mask to match the soldier's skin color, eye color, and other features. The masks were held in place by glasses or attached to the remnants of the soldier's face.

After the war, Ladd returned to the United States and continued her work as a sculptor until her death in 1939. Her contributions during World War I highlighted the intersection of art and medicine and opened new possibilities for the use of prosthetics in rehabilitation.

Ladd's legacy is remembered for the compassion and innovation she brought to the field of prosthetics and for her role in using her artistic skills to aid soldiers disfigured in the war. Her work is an early example of the significant impact that art can have in the field of medical rehabilitation and the psychological healing process.