Why do clowns wear white paint on their faces?

[Kristal]

Why do clowns wear white paint on their faces?

[anjali]

There are three kinds of clowns- the white-face, the Auguste ('natural face) and the character (hobo, animal, etc.)

White-face clowns go back to Greek theater when white-face was used to make all actors faces more distintive from the backgrounds of the acts adn to highlight expressions, etc.

Both clowns working in large arenas and mimes kept the white-face tradition that both makes them an 'everyman' and allows for greater facial expression.

Whiteface clowns also lay homage to Joseph Grimaldi, a world-famous clown/actor from the 1800's in Europe, who defined the role and costume of 'neat whiteface' clowns ever since (kind of like Bozo has set the mold for 'comic whitefaces').

I've never seen any evidence that it was to highlight race differences. From what you can see in old minstrel show photos, 'blackface' makeup was common, but 'whiteface' was not- other than applying powder to the face to increase the visibility for old photos and movies.