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An Old Dogon Nommo Primordial Couple Statue Ancestor Figure w/ Raised Arms
Antique Tribal Art - African Sculpture - Mali
Collected from the: Dogon peoples of Mali, West Africa
Material: Carved wood, pigment
Period: Early to mid 20th century
Dimensions: 18" height, 6" width, 5" depth; weight is 2.70 pounds
Condition: Excellent. From a private Paris collection, superb signs of age and wear from authentic tribal use, age cracks and indigenous repair to base test stable, wear-exposed wood displays significant patination. Clearly a favored early altar figure, make special note of the sublime facial expressions, Lebe ancestor snake scarification and surface condition - nice !
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Dogon Nommo Figure Primordial Couple Sculptures
These statues are among the best known of Dogon sculptural forms. They are large figures, one male, one female, usually seated together on a stool or else on some other type of support. These figures often possess symbols of dual sexuality, with one sex being portrayed as predominant. The male figure may have three rings in each ear and three arm bands, since the number three is the number of masculinity. The female figure in turn may have a baby on her back, or four ear rings and four bracelets, the number four representing femininity. They are said by some to represent the original Nommo couple, in a form which is iconographically more human than Nommo. However, it is also plausible that they do not represent the first or great Nommo couple but rather the first human couple or Primordial couple who Amma created after he created the first Nommo couple. It was from the former that the eight original ancestors decended. They were human in form, but later changed into Nommos when he went up to heaven to Amma. Figures with raised arms collectively comprise one of the most common styles of Dogon sculpture. A number of interrelated meanings have been assigned to Dogon sculptures with raised arms. In their later work, Griaule and Dieterlen interpreted the gesture as representing various aspects of Nommo's role in organizing and purifying the universe and his relationship with Amma, the Creator. Earlier, the gesture had been said to indicate communication between the earth and heaven, specifically a prayer for rain, an essential commodity in the arid environment in which the Dogon people live. The later was bolstered by the appearance of the gesture in actual Dogon ritual. Sacrifices to elicit rain were made on altars called andugo, which were dedicated to the spiritual being Nommo, who is present in all water, including rain.
Dogon Tribal History
The 300,000 Dogon inhabit approximately 700 villages in Mali, primarily along a 125 mile (200 kilometer) stretch of escarpment known as the Cliffs of Bandiagara. These sandstone cliffs run from southwest to northeast, roughly parallel to the Niger River, and attain heights up to 2000 feet 600 meters (2000 feet). Accounts of early Dogon history vary according to the specific Dogon clan and/or archaeological records consulted, with multiple versions of the Dogon origin myth as well as differing accounts of their migration from early ancestral homelands to the Bandiagara region. The people call themselves 'Dogon' or 'Dogom', but in the older literature they are most often called Habe, a Fulbe word meaning 'stranger' or 'pagan'. Certain theories suggest the tribe descended from an ancient Egyptian race that journeyed first to Libya, then on into regions of Guinea or Mauritania. Around 1490 AD, fleeing Mande invaders and/or drought, they migrated to eventually settle in the Bandiagara cliffs of central Mali. Legend has it that a snake led them to the cliffs at the southern end of the plateau, where they overwhelmed and usurped the local Tellem and Niongom populations. Carbon dating on remains excavated from the cliffs indicate the Toloy culture of the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC, and the Tellem culture of the 11th to 15th centuries AD inhabited the area long before the Dogon arrived. The influence of these earlier cultures continue to be noted in Dogon art to this day.
Dogon livelihood is based on agriculture production concentrated in fields at the edge of the cliffs where water is scarce, but enough for occasional irrigation. Agricultural dependence has recently forced the Dogon to move away from their beloved cliffs onto the more fertile Bongo plains to maintain their agricultural production of millet, of vital importance to feeding the tribes. Onions, one of their only cash crops, are sold as far away as Cote d'Ivoire. Villagers are known to use bark ropes to scale the towering Bandiagara cliffs in search of pigeon guano and Tellem artifacts that are then sold to subsidize their meager existence. As the Dogon are both Muslims and Animists, their social and religious organizations are closely interlinked. Assimilation of the popular Muslim beliefs was initially somewhat limited by topographical isolation and tribal exclusivity. The four principle Dogon cults of the Awa, Lebe, Wagem, and Binu, significantly contribute to the richness and diversity of Dogon culture. For these various cults the hogon is both priest and political chief of the village. The tribe's self-defense comes primarily from their social solidarity which is based on a complex combination of philosophic and religious dogmas, with the fundamental law being the worship of ancestors. Ritual masks and corpses were enshrined in caves and used for ceremonial rituals. All Dogon villages have at least one togu na, a shelter where the men gather, and a Lebe shrine where the Hogon presides over their rituals.
Recommended Reading:
Dogon Cliff Dwellers (Imperato), African Art of the Dogon (Laude), Art of the Dogon (Ezra), Dogon (Musee Dapper), Masques Dogon (Griaule), Les Dogon du Mali (Beaudoin) and Statuaire Dogon (Leloup).
Cat. # ufst7
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