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Dogon figure
Mali
N’Duleri Style
19th century or earlier
Carved wood
Height: 49 cm – 19 ¼ in.
Provenance
Private collection, New York
Sotheby’s New York, African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art, 12 May 2005, lot 31
Collection Marc-Yves Blanpain, Belgium
Exhibition & Publication
“Rêves de beauté : Sculptures africaines de la collection Blanpain”, Bernard de Grunne, Banque Générale du Luxembourg, 25 Oct. – 2 Dec. 2005, cat. 20
Sold
The most elegant and refined Dogon style originated in the center and to the north of the Bandiagara Plateau in the region of the Ndule River, or n'duleri [ri = country of]. The N'duleri Style is closely linked with the art of the ancient Djenne empire (Djennenke, aka Soninke) and presumably is a direct result of the Songhay invasion in the 15th century and the ensuing Djennenke diaspora.
Hélène Leloup notes in "Dogon Statuary" Ed. Amez 1994 that this style, which seems to have reached its peak in the 18th century, is "a condensation of the classical art of the north - realism and force - with a suppleness, an elegance, not found elsewhere, completely opposed to the [Dogon] sculpture on the southern cliff, which is very constructed, cubist, abstract."
Hélène Leloup notes in "Dogon Statuary" Ed. Amez 1994 that this style, which seems to have reached its peak in the 18th century, is "a condensation of the classical art of the north - realism and force - with a suppleness, an elegance, not found elsewhere, completely opposed to the [Dogon] sculpture on the southern cliff, which is very constructed, cubist, abstract."
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