The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 21, 2025

Face Mask with Female Figure (satimbe)

early to mid-1900s
Wood and organic materials
Overall: 111.1 cm (43 3/4 in.)
James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund 1960.169
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This mask is one of several hundred that may perform at the ceremony called dama.

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.
  • (Pierre Matisse Gallery, NY, to 1960)
  • Damase, Jacques. Sculpture of the Tellem and the Dogon, exh. cat. New York: Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1960), no. 40.
    Wixom, William D. 1961. Two African Tribal Sculptures. Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, pp. 38-45, repr. p. 42.
    Wixom, William D. 1977. “African Art in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” African Arts 10, no. 3: 16-25, 88, fig. 11.
    Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. "An Obsession with Heads: The Impact of African Arts, Anthropology, and Photography on the Works of Alberto Giacometti," Medium (May 2022). medium.com
    Robbins, Warren M. African Art in American Collections = L'art Africain Dans Les Collections Americaines. New York: F.A. Praeger, 1966. Reproduced: p. 55, no. 22
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 302 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 302 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 410 archive.org
    Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Reproduced: cat. 2, p. 34 - 35
    Robbins, Warren M. African sculpture. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub, 2005. Reproduced: p. 55, number 22.
  • CMA "Year in Review" 1960: Bulletin, 47 (December 1960), p. 250, no. 11, repr. p. 246.
    Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Face Mask with Female Figure (satimbe)|url=false|author=|year=early to mid-1900s|access-date=21 May 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.169