id: 148730
accession number: 1976.172
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.172
updated: 2022-07-30 09:00:42.018000
Female Figure, c. 1940. Western Sudan, Mali, Dogon, 20th century. Wood; overall: 74.9 cm (29 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White 1976.172
title: Female Figure
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 1940
creation date earliest: 1935
creation date latest: 1945
current location:
creditline: Gift of Katherine C. White
copyright:
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culture: Western Sudan, Mali, Dogon, 20th century
technique: wood
department: African Art
collection: African Art
type: Sculpture
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 74.9 cm (29 1/2 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Year in Review, 1976
opening date: 1977-02-01T05:00:00
Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 6, repr.
CMA 1977: "Year in Review 1976," CMA Bulletin LXIV Feb., 1977) , p. 73, no. 21, repr. p. 72.
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
Most Dogon art is religious and portrays ancestors, priests and priestesses, or mythic beings who serve as intercessors between the living and Amma, the creator god. The raised arms of this figure may refer to the first being created by Amma and its role in ordering and purifying heaven and earth. Another interpretation links the figure with rain-making rites; blackened figures symbolize the plea for dark rain clouds. A third explanation associates the sculpture with annual planting rites in which priests throw millet grain on the heads of the people -- symbolically showering them with the blessings of rain and good crops.
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RELATED WORKS
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