This work's scale and complexity have led scholars to suggest that it may have been created for display at the funerals of influential Dogon men. The graphic composition constitutes an eloquent statement concerning the distinct and yet complementary roles of male and female partners as a unit of life. With understated elegance and an economy of details, the artistic distills man and woman to a perfectly integrated and harmonious union. One of the most striking aspects of the representation is the degree of bilateral symmetry that describes man and woman as reflections of each other with delicate and subtle departures that indicate their distinct identities. The figures' elongated bodies are depicted as a series of parallel vertical lines traversed by horizontals that draw them together. On the reverse side a small child clinging to the female's back is balanced by a quiver on the back of the male. That concluding pair of features distinguishes their respective role as nurturer and provider joined together to procreate and sustain life.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Figure: Seated Couple
Artist:Dogon artist
Date:18th–early 19th century
Geography:Mali
Culture:Dogon
Medium:Wood, metal
Dimensions:H. 28 3/4 × W. 8 5/8 × D. 8 in. (73 × 21.9 × 20.3 cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:Gift of Lester Wunderman, 1977
Accession Number:1977.394.15
[Henri Kamer, Paris and New York]; Lester Wunderman, New York, until 1977
Brooklyn Museum. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," April 4, 1973–May 20, 1973.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," July 15, 1973–September 2, 1973.
New Orleans Museum of Art. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," September 22, 1973–October 21, 1973.
Kansas City. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," November 10, 1973–December 9, 1973.
Toledo Museum of Art. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," January 1, 1974–February 3, 1974.
Austin. Blanton Museum of Art. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," February 23, 1974–March 24, 1974.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," April 13, 1974–May 12, 1974.
Dallas Museum of Art. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," June 5, 1974–July 7, 1974.
The Detroit Institute of Arts. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," August 1, 1974–September 8, 1974.
Dayton Art Institute. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," September 28, 1974–October 22, 1974.
Utica. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," November 9, 1974–December 8, 1974.
Columbus Museum of Art. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," January 1, 1975–February 9, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers," March 1, 1975–April 20, 1975.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection," February 10–July 10, 1988.
Musée du Quai Branly. "Dogon," April 4, 2011–July 24, 2011.
Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. "Dogon," September 2, 2011–January 1, 2012.
Palazzo Reale. "Dogon," February 21, 2012–June 3, 2012.
Millot, Jacques. Arts Connus et Méconnus de l'Afrique Noire: Collection Paul Tishman. Paris: Musée de l'Homme, 1966.
Leuzinger, Elsy, and Walter Bangerter. Afrikanische Kunstwerke: Kulturen am Niger. Recklinghausen: A. Bongers, 1971.
Kan, Michael. "The Wunderman Collection: Dogon Sculpture and the Understanding of African Art." ArtNews vol. 72 (1973), p. 76.
Laude, Jean. African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1973, p. 33, front cover (image reversed), no. 37.
Imperato, Pascal James. "The art of Mali's Mountain People." In Dogon Cliff Dwellers. New York: L. Kahan Gallery, New York, 1978.
Jones, Julie. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1975–1979. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979, p. 94.
Jones, Mark. The Art of the Medal. London: British Museum Publications, 1979, pp. 91–96.
Vogel, Susan M. African Sculpture: The Shape of Surprise. Greenvale, NY: C.W. Post Art Gallery, 1980.
DeMott, Barbara. Dogon Masks: A Structural Study of Form and Meaning. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982, fig. 6, Laude 1973, Flam 1970.
Kerchache, Jacques. Chefs d'oeuvre de l'art Africain: Musée de Grenoble, 1982. Grenoble: Musée de Grenoble, 1982.
Vogel, Susan M. African Aesthetics: The Carlo Monzino Collection. New York: Center for African Art, 1986, pp. 9–11, no. 6.
Vogel, Susan M. Aesthetics of African Art: The Carlo Monzino Collection. New York: Center for African Art, 1986.
Newton, Douglas, Julie Jones, and Kate Ezra. The Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, p. 64, no. 42.
Sieber, Roy, and Roslyn Walker. African Art in the Cycle of Life. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987.
Ezra, Kate. Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988, no. 23.
Van Beek, Walter E. A. "Functions of Sculpture in Dogon Religion." African Arts vol. 21, no. 4 (August 1988), p. 63.
Nooter, Nancy Ingram, and Warren Robbins. African Art in American Collections: Survey 1989. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, fig. 15.
Paudrat, Jean-Louis. Dogon. Paris: Editions Dapper, 1994, pp. 47, 85.
LaGamma, Alisa. Echoing Images: Couples in African Sculpture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004, Frontispiece.
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