dogon antelope - african mask

DOGON ANTELOPE MASK 

WOOD & PIGMENT PAINT

MASK SIZE : 90CM (H) X 21CM X 23CM

DISPLAY BASE SIZE : 2CM (H) X 20CM X 20CM

TOTAL HEIGHT : 101CM

African masks should be seen as part of a ceremonial costume. They are used in religious and social events to represent the spirits of ancestors or to control the good and evil forces in the community. They come to life, possessed by their spirit in the performance of the dance, and are enhanced by the music, color and atmosphere of the occasion. Some combine human and animal features to unite man with his natural environment. This bond with nature and the spirit world is of great importance to many tribal cultures and through the ages masks have always been used to express this relationship.

Antelope masks, among the most popular Dogon masks, are admired by the Dogon for their beauty and the strength of their performance. The face of the mask is usually a rectangular box, like that of the sim mask, but in this example the artist has completely opened up the face, eliminating the two channels for the eyes and adding a short, arrow-shaped nose. The result, though lighter and more delicate than many examples, retains the architectonic quality that characterizes Dogon masks. The costume worn with the antelope mask consists of fiber hood, skirts, armbands, and fiber bandoliers crossed over the chest. The dancer holds two short sticks with which he scratches the ground, imitating the behavior of antelope during their mating displays, but also resembling men hoeing the fields to make them fruitful.