Tribal Art

Coated with a thick patina of grainy, stone-like relief, this African Dogon sculpture depicts a mythical being, an ancestor whose face, devoid of facial features, is extended by a long beard. Desication cracks.

Carved for the most part on order placed by a family, the Dogon statues can also be the object of worship on the part of the whole community. However, their functions remain little known. Alongside Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to fertility, under the spiritual authority of the Hogon, the Wagem, cult of the ancestors under the authority of the patriarch, the Binou invoking the spirit world and led by the priest of the Binou, and the society of masks concerning the funeral.