The Dogon (2) : A Trip to Dogon Country

The Quai Branly Museum

It’s a magical space, with vegetation on the walls and an extraordinary garden. The only off note is the complicated hours: it doesn’t open until 11:00 a.m.; and it’s open Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday from 11:00 to 7:00; Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 9:00. The ticket windows open at 9:30. The museum is free on the first Sunday of the month… in short, make sure you have all the details before you go. You plunge into the Dogon universe in three well-lit rooms. There’s a twenty-minute ethnological film playing in a side room (which is a bit cramped).

The Exhibit

330 exceptional pieces from collections from all over the world have been assembled for this exhibit. It presents a panorama of Dogon art from the 7th century until today. The exhibit shows the impact on culture and art of waves of migration and successive contact of the Dogon with other peoples of the region. Statuettes, objects of religious significance or for daily use, ritual masks, a grouping that shows the stylistic richness of the first contacts with the Tellem up to the production of masks and statues designed with European tastes in mind in the 20th century.
We will return to this subject in greater detail in the days to come. The Dogon people and culture are not at all set in stone, as their famous masks lead many people to suppose. On the contrary, it’s a country in perpetual movement, that fits in well with the contorted landscape around the cliffs of Bandiagara…

To be continued.