DOGON, MALI

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During his research in the 1930s, French anthropologist Marcel Griaule documented more than seventy different mask types which he considered to be a visual summary of the world surrounding the Dogon people. This panoply of representations encompassed animals, birds, human characters, and abstract concepts. Many of these come together in the manifestation of the dama, or final commemorative ceremony for an important Dogon elder, in which hundreds of masked dancers perform in a brilliant community spectacle. By reenacting their mythic ancestors’ discovery of the power of masks, the Dogon quell the chaos brought by death into their contemporary world.

Antelope images were among the most preeminent forms of Dogon animal masks, admired by the Dogon for their beauty and vigorous performances. The face of the mask typically takes the shape of a rectangular box, like that of the sim mask, but in this example the artist has opened up the area of the face and added an angular openwork nose. The delicacy of the mask’s features extends to the surface details, in which incised geometric designs and repeating lines merge with the organic effects of heavy erosion, creating a highly cohesive textural appearance.

The antelope masquerade ensemble comprises a fiber hood, skirts, armbands, and fiber bandoliers crossed over the chest. The dancer scratches the earth with two short sticks, simultaneously recalling the movements of the antelope during mating displays and farmers hoeing their fields.