The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2025

Mask (Omono or Tana Wurum Bogoro)

early 1900s
Wood and paint
Overall: 91.5 cm (36 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1975.151
Location: 108A Sub-Saharan

Did You Know?

The long-armed figure at the top of this mask is omono, a white-bellied monkey.

Description

Dogon masks can be interpreted on two fundamentally different levels: “front speech” (giri so) reflects an early stage of knowledge and consists of a tale that is intended to arouse curiosity; and “speech of the world” (aduno so) refers to Dogon cosmogony, reserved for highly instructed men and women. Masked dances have recently been organized in Dogon regions for tourists and dignitaries. The character of omono is a rare one among the 80 or so that appear in Dogon masquerades.
  • ?–1975
    Katherine C. White [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1975–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Fagg, William, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 1968. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection, no. 2. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art.
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1975.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 2 (February 1976): 31–71. Reproduced: p. 64; Mentioned: p. 66, no. 35 www.jstor.org
  • CMA 1973: "Year in Review 1975," CMA Bulletin LXIII (Feb., 1976), p. 66, no. 35, repr. p. 64
    CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 2, repr.
  • {{cite web|title=Mask (Omono or Tana Wurum Bogoro)|url=false|author=|year=early 1900s|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.151