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Figure of a Standing Female

Arts of Africa

This female figure illustrates the ability of Dogon sculptors to translate the human form into geometric volumes. In profile, the figure's neckline, breasts, belly, buttocks, and legs are a series of diagonal lines.

CULTURE Dogon
MEDIUM Wood
  • Place Made: Mopti Region, Mali
  • DATES late 19th or early 20th century
    DIMENSIONS 22in. (55.9cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
    ACCESSION NUMBER 69.39.1
    CREDIT LINE Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, by exchange
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Standing female figure. Elongated narrow head with crested coiffure. Long thin nose with bridge extending up through center of forehead. Incising on cheeks, stomach and neck, "braids" hanging in front of ears. Hanging breasts, protruding navel, hands rest at leg joint, knees slightly bent. Long slender feet with incised toes, feet connected to crude roundish base. Dark painted base. CONDITION: Good; cracks throughout, some chips in face area and at feet.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Dogon. Figure of a Standing Female, late 19th or early 20th century. Wood, 22in. (55.9cm). Brooklyn Museum, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, by exchange, 69.39.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.69.39.1_front_PS5.jpg)
    IMAGE front, CUR.69.39.1_front_PS5.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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    Dogon. <em>Figure of a Standing Female</em>, late 19th or early 20th century. Wood, 22in. (55.9cm). Brooklyn Museum, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, by exchange, 69.39.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.69.39.1_front_PS5.jpg)

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