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Source Description
Dogon masks are worn at the end-of-mourning ceremonies called dama. The masks incarnate ancestors, which can be human, animal, or vegetal. The female figure with raised arms topping this example represents the mythical character Yasigine, who played a key role in the very first sigi celebration. Held every 60 years, the sigi ceremony commemorates the arrival of death.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
136279
label
Face Mask with Female Figure (satimbe)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
136279
contentType
object
title
Face Mask with Female Figure (satimbe)
description
Dogon masks are worn at the end-of-mourning ceremonies called dama. The masks incarnate ancestors, which can be human, animal, or vegetal. The female figure with raised arms topping this example represents the mythical character Yasigine, who played a key role in the very first sigi celebration. Held every 60 years, the sigi ceremony commemorates the arrival of death.
date
early to mid-1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Mask
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 111.1 cm (43 3/4 in.)
cul
Africa, West Africa, Mali, Dogon-style blacksmith-carver
accession
1960.169
Source extras
tec
Wood and organic materials
tombstone
Face Mask with Female Figure (satimbe), early to mid-1900s. Africa, West Africa, Mali, Dogon-style blacksmith-carver. Wood and organic materials; overall: 111.1 cm (43 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund, 1960.169
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
This mask is one of several hundred that may perform at the ceremony called <em>dama</em>.
citations
citation
Damase, Jacques. Sculpture of the Tellem and the Dogon, exh. cat. New York: Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1960), no. 40.
citation
Wixom, William D. 1977. “African Art in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>African Arts 10</em>, no. 3: 16-25, 88, fig. 11.
citation
Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. "An Obsession with Heads: The Impact of African Arts, Anthropology, and Photography on the Works of Alberto Giacometti," <em>Medium </em>(May 2022).
citation
Wixom, William. "Two African Tribal Sculptures." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>48, no. 3 (March 1961): 39-45
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 42
citation
Robbins, Warren M. <em>African Art in American Collections = L'art Africain Dans Les Collections Americaines</em>. New York: F.A. Praeger, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 55, no. 22
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 302
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 302
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 410
citation
Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. 2, p. 34 - 35
citation
Robbins, Warren M. <em>African sculpture</em>. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub, 2005.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 55, number 22.
creditline
James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:57:02.739000
sourceId
136279
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Wood and organic materials
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ef00e28f46b28c05