Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

transition, a rite of passage parallel to that undergone by all men

during their years of Poro socialization. When an important person

dies, the convergence of several masking groups, as well as the music,

dancing, costuming, and feasting of many people, constitute a festive

and complex work of art that transcends any one mask or character.

Some men also dance female masks. The most recurrent type

has a small face with fine features, several extensions, and varied

motifs—a hornbill bird in the illustrated example (FIG. 34-16)—

rising from the forehead. The men who dance these feminine char-

acters also wear knitted body suits or trade-cloth costumes to indi-

cate their beauty and their ties with the order and civilization of the

village. They may be called “pretty young girl,” “beautiful lady,” or

“wife” of one of the heavy, terrorizing masculine masks (FIG. 34-15)

that appear before or after them.

Dogon

The Dogon (FIG. 34-9) continue to excel at carving wood figures, but

many Dogon artists are specialists in fashioning large masks for

elaborate cyclical masquerades.

SATIMBE MASKSDogon masqueraders dramatize creation

legends. These stories say that women were the first ancestors to imi-

tate spirit maskers and thus the first human masqueraders. Men later

took over the masks, forever barring women from direct involvement

with masking processes. A mask called Satimbe(FIG. 34-17), that is,

“sister on the head,” seems to represent all women and commemo-

900 Chapter 34 AFRICA AFTER 1800

34-16“Beautiful Lady” dance mask, Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire, late 20th

century. Wood, 1–^12 high. Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva.

Some Senufo men dance female masks like this one with a hornbill bird

rising from the forehead. The female characters are sometimes the

wives of the terrorizing male masks (FIG. 34-15).

34-17Satimbe masquerader, Dogon, Mali, mid- to late 20th century.

Satimbe (“sister on the head”) masks commemorate the legend

describing women as the first masqueraders. The mask’s crown is a

woman with large breasts and sticklike bent arms.

1 in.

34-16AAncient
Mother, Senufo,
early 20th
century.