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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dogon Crocodile Mask, 19th Century CE - 20th Century CE

Dogon Crocodile Mask, 19th Century CE - 20th Century CE

Wood
12.5
DJ.1042 (LSO)
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This formidable piece is Dogon crocodile facemask. The piece is constructed as a concave-backed, tall columnar block with a tapering apex. The body of the mask is decorated with untouched...
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This formidable piece is Dogon crocodile facemask. The piece is constructed as a concave-backed, tall columnar block with a tapering apex. The body of the mask is decorated with untouched triangles of natural wood that contrast with the dark staining elsewhere on the piece. The Apex of the mask is a small, rounded “head” with a long, slightly concave “snout” that protrudes down the front of the mask and is divided into two halves, each of which conceals the eyeholes through which the wearer could see. The slightly sinister effect would have been accentuated by a textile and raffia hood that was attached to the bored holes around the rear aperture of the mask.

The Dogon have been described as the most studied and least understood tribal group in Africa. They live on the Bandiagara escarpment, Mali, a 150-mile-long eminence that supports a population of between 250,000 and 450,000. They moved to this area in the 15th century, escaping the Mande kingdom and slavery at the hands of Islamic groups, and displaced a number of tribes (including the Tellem and Niongom) that were living on the escarpment at the time. They are excessively prolific in terms of artistic production, not least because they have mastered all the main materials that are used in traditional African art; figures in stone, iron, bronze/copper and of course wood are all known, in addition to cave/rock painting and adaptation of more modern materials. There are around seventy-eight different mask forms still in production (in addition to numerous extinct variants), figural sculptures of males, females, nommos and unidentifiable individuals that have maternity and ancestor functions and a wide range of secular items decorated with iconographic designs that bestow benedictions upon the user or owner. The most important works are kept and manipulated by the spiritual leader (Hogon) away from the public eye, within the houses of families, or in sanctuaries. The scale of the population and the size of the area in which they live have resulted in considerable social and artistic diversity, and a complex interplay between tradition and innovation.

The crocodile mask represents one of the main personages in Dogon masquerades. Work by Griaule in the first half of the 20th century details how this mask – which is worn horizontally in Ibi villages – represents the killing of the crocodile that came habitually to steal blackened fibres from men. The men, fearful of possible spiritual retribution, carved the mask in order to protect the slayer and his descendents from the vengeful spirit of the crocodile. This underlies all the masks in the Dogon pantheon: that something be created to provide a material foothold for a living being that has died, to protect from injury.

There are various versions of this mask; other variants include those made from jawbones, porcupine quills and other organic matter. This version, however, is the most traditional and best-known, and remains one of the most important symbols of Dogon material culture. This is an impressive piece of African art.
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