66 - Female figure with slender arms

Female figure with slender arms extending away from the body Wood, crusty patina, localized erosion, chips, and signs of age. Dogon, likely in the tradition of the Bombou-Toro style, Mali. 19th century or earlier. 47 cm Provenance: According to the information on the label: former collection of Dr. Zack H. Haddad, Los Angeles. This female figure is distinguished by the elongation of the torso and arms, which are widely separated from the body, creating long openings on either side of the abdomen. The high chest and protruding navel give rhythm to this vertical composition. The hands meet at the pelvis, while the short, bent legs—with their pronounced joints—anchor the figure to its circular base. The face is set within a clearly defined diamond shape, whose two opposing triangles are arranged around a long, arrow-shaped nose—a geometry reminiscent of the sculptural tradition of Bombou-Toro. The contrast between the outstretched arms and the compact lower body gives the work as a whole a remarkably modern graphic composition, straddling the line between abstraction and figuration. General Bibliography: Hélène Leloup (ed.), Dogon Statues, Strasbourg, Éditions Amez, 1994, particularly the study of the Bombou-Toro style, pp. 165–170.