Résumé
While the proper name is thought to be something that marks one’s identity, the face is that part of the body in which the subject’s individuality is inscribed. The Inconnue de la Seine (The Unknown Woman of the Seine) – the mask of a drowned young woman that fascinated the Surrealists – has inspired numerous literary works. The death mask is a trace, a transposition, what remains of a lifeless face; the popularity of the Inconnue makes of this mask a face without a name, but at the same time its reproductions create a proliferation of identities.