As a teenager, Outerbridge worked as a theatrical set designer—training that came in handy when he became an advertising and fashion photographer. In the 1930s he started to experiment with the tri-color carbro process, which, although time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive, renders brilliantly colored and long-lasting prints. A single image can take over nine hours to produce as color separation negatives made into bromide prints are pressed against sensitized gelatin tissues to create yellow, magenta, and cyan pigment-relief images that combine into the final print. (“Carbro” is a portmanteau of “carbon” and “bromide,” and “tricolor” refers to the print’s three color layers.) Party Mask with Shells is one of the most important works Outerbridge made during this period, containing a dynamic interplay of texture, color, and finish that hints at the impermanence of humanity and its pleasures when compared to the natural world.

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)