African Arts Gallery

African Art Dogon.
Small attic shutter decorated with animal and human motifs carved in bas-relief. Natural matte and velvety patina.
Desication cracks, erosions.
The Nommo, the mythical ancestor, is said to have founded the eight lineages of Dogon and instilled weaving, the art of blacksmithing, and agriculture in their human descendants.
The figures may symbolize previous generations, mythical ancestors, but the owners of the attic are also frequently featured. The motifs present on the doors in Mali, apart from their decorative value, are intended to deter the intruder, whether human or animal, from entering. The locks, like the doors, are cut in wood chosen according to the function of the building in which they will be used. Because each plant is attributed ...

The doors of the Dogon constructions are collector's items, and once this is the case, this piece is sober, devoid of motif or anthropomorphic representation.

It consists of two large planks securely fastened with iron staples. The lock and the hinges are always present. The Dogon are a people renowned for their cosmogony, their esotericism, their myths and legends. Their population is estimated at about 300 000 souls living south-west of the Niger loop in the Mopti region of Mali (Bandiagara, Koro, Banka), near Douentza and part of northern Burkina Faso (northwest of Ouahigouya). ). Villages are often perched on top of the hillside scree, in a unique architecture. The history of migrations and installations of the Dogon (about ten main groups, about fifteen different ...