African Arts Gallery

Everyday objects of African art.
Four arched legs form the center of this small Dogon seat made of very dense wood. The symbolic decorative motifs and sculpted figures refer to Dogon myths. The top is also carefully engraved with a star shape.
Smooth black patina, slight cracks.
The Dogon are a people renowned for their cosmogony, their esotericism, their myths and legends. Their population is estimated at around 300,000 souls living in the south-west of the Niger loop in the Mopti region of Mali (Bandiagara, Koro, Banka), near Douentza and part of northern Burkina (north-west of Ouahigouya ). The villages are often perched on top of the scree on the side of the hills, according to a unique architecture. The history of Dogon migrations and settlements (about ten main groups, about fifteen different languages) bears on several hypotheses. For some historians, the Dogon would have fled from an area west of their current location, following an attack.