Speculations On Dogon Iconography

Speculations on Oogon Iconography
A rt hi st ori ans co nfe·ss t he fo llic of past mis -

judgment~ "1.vithou1 a blush: noi so 1hos.e :iri !;ing from
muu ,w ~rudition. Thus, it h as become stanodaro to ca<;t asper-
\ ith symbolism in European reJ.igit1us art. And 1t has occurred
to me chal art historical techniques It-la t pen;.uade a1heists of tbe
spiritual worth of Romanesque ty mpana mlly evoke similar
sfons upon the once-common term · ·primifr; e" while at t:he respect for the thought of tribe:,;mcn. In tl:i1s ixipcr I have
same lime attending to 1hc i!rtff1;1cts of 1rihal .societies almost a1tempted 10 11~) m~hing more tbiin e1t1pk)y th~e techniques in
e;(Cltl$tVely irt terms of thei r re,semblance 10 European obj eels the exegesis of an African s1atue at the Unjversity Museum in
inspired by them . Deferring 10 Clau.ck Le-vi-Strauss and the Philadelphia (Fig. 3) .
siruc-turnl .ani hrop,olo_gisrs, we are ellger to mocede the tribes- The D<lgon of the Westem Sudan have. proved unus.ual.Ly
man's nobility and grant acst hclk integrity to his ritual objects. resistant to Islamic culture. which hai had a prc.lno1mcw effect
Bui , for the mos.1 part , this show of esreem is ilOlhin g more- ~n. neig.hhorimg !!fOup:;; . One reason for their f ierce insularity i:<; .
man hypo,crih,y paying guilty Jwmage. to white. et1mplacency. perhaps, the cornplextty of their rel igion .and 1bcir :.cnse of
Con.sider the si tuation . Virtual ly all literature on African , b.avin~ iln o.rdcred knowledge of all e.xisterice . These peo)'lle
Oceanic. and Amerindian art is pure ly descriptive. Serious were the. obj ect of prolonge.d stud by the Frenc h an•
.inalysis of irnlMdual worts is so rare as to occasion remark., lhropologii.t Marcel Griaulc and l1is i;;olleaguc ', who lcam..,,J
aod e.ven the speci.al is1s disc u5cs piece. in •,ery general terms . that all Dogori activities are UJ1d.eq,i11ned by precise ritual a!\d
At the same time it 1s easy to fi11cl articles on Wc!>tem art such accounted for by a cosmogony that sound almost neo-
it.li a n:cc nt one co11ccmi11g a sin glc shadow in :.i fumous Po u.s in f'la1onic-. lruked, it goi;s beyond rnos1 Wescem philosopl1ies
(SteefeJ l 975 :99-1 0 1), a painting tnat has been analyzed so for which i I has an affini ty. Gria11!e has said: "'Tb.ii; conceptual
scdulo u:;ly by so many i.cholars over i;O long ~ lim.c as lo l:rn.w;; s1ruc1urc, when stmlied, .rcvca.ls .icn internal cohcron ·c, a S'-"Crel
left. one. sup]'.X)SC:d , nolbi11g more to be said . TI1at ii kame<I wisdmoci . and an ~ppreheosion of u ltiri1.ite re.ili1 ies equal to thi!t
man has fo und yet morn to ·wrifo :tb-oui it is not. of course, wnkh we Europeans cone:eivc o urselves to have auainctl' '
as lounding . All gen1.1i!le r1111sterpiec-es ilre perpetual, sources of (Griaule and! Dieter1en 1954 :!13) . 1 Moreover, the entire I.Jro_g.on
stimulation. What interests me is the cxl cnt to which an ~ocia] o rganizatfon. c.,.•en to the layout of homes ruid \·iHagcs,
h.istorical study h.ld.t)' resembles a be.a.chcomber's ni~liumare; e-:<pJesses a ~x,rre:.pondence \\•i th 1h1; order of rhe uni eJse as
one beach is aswarm w ith earnest seekers f ighting O\l'er they have conceived it .
rern n.in1 ' •a nd pebble!>, while an ot her s ho re-al be it fa r Doion scu lpt ure assens an iiustcre., ;ibsttrnct vcrtk~l il}" . AJI
smalle.r-s.till ho!ds: treasu!'e 1 :mried in its sand~. ot' Hie fig ure.s are religinu~ icons . They receive H1e ~pirit of the
Although I am no authority on tribal aJ1, l ha\·e pondered tt-ic deocased ancestors , nyam.a. which is: lhe source of life':.
absence of a lite rature about lt that is like the one concerned en.erg)•. We m.ty . then.-:-f on!, assume lhat all ot'the char-.icteri~-
tics of the PhiladeJphi.a statue are. connected with purposes o
high li-Ctiousncs~. As 10 ·pecifics, ho~ver, we shaLI ti¢
guessing, for Dogon art. as such . has rarely be:cn the object of
5y1,1cma1ic s1udy , and even where it ha,,;. the Arllerican or
European will be frustrated by the esoteric character of most of
the ·imponanl, poiul 5, of the rel ig_lon, Thorc is. of course, iiill
!lr>O eJ1oteric myl.lws m •e latory of the ;:;uperficlal k.nowledge that is
=
Yr IDIT!llllt
Nil i· iIIEll,TRlll
HII held by the average tribesman . The superficial L5- q uite compli-
■.
!IMIIII l,tcll
I ■
!UICI
c.ired e11ougJ:i .
As in the Old Testament' s Genesis . in lhe beginning I.here
was logos O.I' power in the form of A.m m1i, the Creator God .
T hen there was a vasl egg called by the Dogon udiuw tai. the
" egg of the world," whi.ch con1aincd nhc. germ!> of o bjccti\l·c
reality . "Thi!> seed. quickened by lln i11tern al vibration. hllrs~
lhe cn ...·cloping !>h.eath and emerges to reach lhc uttermost
confines of the universe" (Griaule and Di,i:tetk:n 19-54;84) .
The vibration occurrc<l ins.even pulse£ along which the gemu
formed in ,s,egments of increas ing h:ng1h (Fig. 1 ). 1he las1 of
which ibmke the integument of the egg and establi~hed itself as
an eighth step. The cxiension of the scvenlhi vibration into a
l.ff1 1 T!-.E 0030H EGG or -1-l [ w:>::to· 'l'l P-1 PRIIWrJOI",_ ~·1Bf10:TIONS
new 011der caused. it lo become the firs• pulse in u new !!od
fir(,;,·; i (:)l.>,( ;",..M (JF Tt-<E LAW) IF, r,.F :.. CJ06f).}j ~II I K_; cnlargtng seiie: , a continual progression e:lpresstve of the
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A rt hi st ori ans co nfe·ss t he fo llic of past mis -

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