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Face Mask with Female Figure (satimbe)
early to mid-1900s
- Medium
- Wood and organic materials
- Classification
- Mask
- Dimensions
- Overall: 111.1 cm (43 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Africa, West Africa, Mali, Dogon-style blacksmith-carver
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, African Art
- Credit line
- James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
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.
