What Were Dogon Sculptures Traditionally Made From?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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DOGON,

Cast Metalwork

, Mali

Made by the complex traditional lost-wax process, these are all small enough to be cast solid. The Dogon used metal for their most important ritual objects as well as everyday objects, farming implements and weapons.

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What are Dogon sculptures made of?

Many sculpture recreates the silhouettes of the Tellem culture, featuring raised arms and a thick patina, or surface layer, made of

blood and millet beer

.

What is unique about Dogon sculptures?

The most distinctive subject rendered by Dogon sculptures is that

of a single figure standing with raised arms

. This posture has usually been interpreted as a gesture of prayer—an effort to link earth and heavens—and it has been suggested that it may represent an appeal for rain.

What are the main characteristics of Dogon sculptures?

Dogon sculptures are typically characterized by

an elongation of form and a mix of geometric and figurative images

. Dogon Sculpture: Dogon sculptures are typically characterized by an elongation of form and a combination of geometric and figurative images.

What are Dogon masks made out of?

Following a death, Dogon peoples bury the dead immediately. They dance emina, masks carved

from wood and woven from hibiscus fiber

, as part of a sequence of rites that are conducted for men long after they are buried.

What are Dogon sculptures?

Dogon art is

primarily sculptural and revolves around religious values, ideals, and freedoms

. Dogon sculptures are not made to be seen publicly and are commonly hidden from the public eye within the houses of families, sanctuaries, or the hogon (a spiritual leader of the Dogon people).

Where do the dogons live?

The Dogon inhabit

the Bandiagara escarpment in Mali

.

Where do the Dogon originally come from?

The ancestors of the Dogon came from

Mande, an area in southwest Mali and northeast Guinea

that was home to the thirteenth-century Mali empire. The Dogon migrated after the empire’s collapse to the cliffs of the Bandiagara plateau.

What is the origin of Dogon art?

Early history is informed by oral traditions, which claim that the Dogon originated from

the west bank of the Niger River (10th to 13th centuries)

. They emigrated west to northern Burkina Faso, where local histories describe them as kibsi.

What do the dogons believe?

While some villages have adopted Islam or Christianity, a large percentage of Dogon are animists who believe in the importance of a

synergy between the spiritual world of gods and ancestors

, and the living world of plants, people, and animals.

What is wood that has been recently cut and has not aged called?


Green wood

is wood that has been recently cut and therefore has not had an opportunity to season (dry) by evaporation of the internal moisture.

What materials are commonly used in African art?

Sculpture and associated arts. Although

wood

is the best-known medium of African sculpture, many others are employed: copper alloys, iron, ivory, pottery, unfired clay, and, infrequently, stone.

What is it called when different materials are put together in sculpture?


Assembling

: Sculptors gather and join different materials to create an assembled sculpture. Assembling is an additive process. An example of assemblage is Martin Puryear’s That Profile, above.

What are Dogon masks used for?

Dogon masks, such as this one called kanaga, are worn primarily at dama,

a collective funerary rite for Dogon men

. The ritual’s goal is to ensure the safe passage of the spirits of the deceased to the world of the ancestors.

How do I identify an African mask?


Check the back of the mask for wear

, including the holes for fastening the mask on the face. The wearer does a lot of moving in his dances, and contact between body and wood can leave sweat and oil stains. 2. Look for wear from forehead, cheeks, chins and noses.

What was the purpose of the Kanaga mask?

Mask (Kanaga) 20th century

Like other Dogon masks, kanaga masks are worn at rituals called dama, whose goal is

to transport the souls of deceased family members away from the village and to enhance the prestige of the deceased and his descendants by magnificent masked performances and generous displays of hospitality

.

What language does Dogon?

Dogon language,

language of the Niger-Congo language family

spoken by some 600,000 Dogon people in northeastern Mali to the east of Mopti and along the border between Mali and Burkina Faso.

What Dogon means?

Definition of Dogon

1 :

a member of a people of Mali noted for their

sculpture. 2 : the language of the Dogon.

How old is the Dogon sculpture?

How old does this figure look to you? Although the Dogon peoples live along the relatively isolated Bandiagara Plateau, their art attests to the long history of interaction among various groups in the region. Carbon-14 dating of artworks from this area spans

1000 years

.

Where are the Bamana people located?

The Bambara (Bambara: ߓߡߊߣߊ߲, romanized: Bamana or ߓߊ߲ߡߊߣߊ߲‎ Banmana) are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa,

primarily southern Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal

.

What do the doors of the granary teach us about Dogon religiosity?

Dogon Granary Doors frequently have

carved primordial beings, ancestors, Kanaga masks, sun lizards and scenes of life that symbolically serve to protect the entrance

. … These figures represent the eight ancestors of mankind in the Dogon story of creation.

When did the Dogon tribe start?

In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical lore goes back

thousands of years to 3200 BC

.

What animal do the Dogon herd?

While the people keep chickens or herds

of sheep and goats

in Dogon villages, animal husbandry holds little economic value. Individuals with high status may own a small number of cattle.

Who is the first god in Africa?


Mbombo, also called Bumba

, is the creator god in the religion and mythology of the Kuba people of Central Africa in the area that is now known as Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the Mbombo creation myth, Mbombo was a giant in form and white in color. The myth describes the creation of the universe from nothing.

What is the oldest African god?


Obatala

is the oldest of all orishas (imole). His principal wife is Yemaya according to understanding in Caribbean.

What protected the Dogon from outsiders?

The

dry, protected environment of caves in the Bandiagara cliffs

proved beneficial to preserving the remains of early inhabitants, and many of sub-Saharan Africa’s earliest surviving examples of wood and textile arts come from the Dogon region.

Who or what is the origin of evil in the Dogon myth?

In other versions, the origin of evil is attributed to a being known as

Ogo

, who, paradoxically, is an offspring of one of the pair of perfect Nommo born of Amma’s sec- ond mating with the now circumcised earth.

What are the 4 types of sculpture?

The Four Sculpture Types

Sculptures fall into four basic categories:

molded, cast, carved or assembled

. The media an artist uses for molded sculptures include clay, wax, papier-mache and plaster. Cast sculptures involve modeling the sculpture, then making a mold and casting it in a metal or other medium.

What are the 3 types of sculpture?

These three traditional methods of sculpture-making are

modeling, carving, or joining

. These creation types could use any of the three traditional primary materials or modern alternatives.

Which animal is most commonly found in rock art during the Bubalus period?

Most Bubalus art consists of animals that would have been plentiful in the region when it was fertile:

giraffes, elephants

, and a now-extinct species of bovine known as Bubalus antiquus. The images are nearly life-sized and fairly naturalistic in style.

How does Islamic mosaic decoration contrast from that of Byzantine mosaic decoration?

How does Islamic mosaic decoration contrast from that of Byzantine mosaic decoration?

Islamic decoration forbids any representational imagery.

What are the four basic sculpture materials?

The most important of these are

stone, wood, metal, clay, ivory, and plaster

.

Which animal is most commonly found in rock art during?

The most common themes in cave paintings are large wild animals, such as

bison, horses, aurochs , and deer

. Tracings of human hands and hand stencils were also very popular, as well as abstract patterns called finger flutings.

Which animal is most commonly found in rock art?


The eland (a large antelope)

is one of the most commonly portrayed animals. In 1969 archaeologists (people who study things that people made in the past) found paintings on rocks in a cave in Namibia.

Which period of rock are in Africa was the first to develop?


The Camel Period

is the first of African rock art. In many African cultures,masks represent spirits, including ancestors, animals, and nature spirits.

What are the most common materials used for sculpture?

  • Stainless Steel. Sculptures made from stainless steel are durable due to their hardness and corrosion resistance. …
  • Bronze. The bronze material has been used in the creation of sculptures for centuries. …
  • Wood. …
  • Marble. …
  • Corten Steel.

What material were the sculptures found in NOK Nigeria made of?

These artifacts are mostly

terracotta

sculptures of human heads, human figures, and animals. One of the identifying characteristics of Nok sculptures is the triangular or oval-shaped eyes on human faces.

What was the most common material used in African art *?

Most African artworks are

wood sculptures

, probably because wood is a very widespread material.

What is a Bambara mask?

N’tomo masks are used by the Bambara people of West Africa. … The mask represents the legendary ancestor of the Bambara and it is

a symbol of protection

. The mask is made of wood and may be covered in shells, seeds or brass.

Where is Mali in Africa?

Mali is a landlocked country in

West Africa

, located southwest of Algeria.

David Martineau
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David Martineau
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