Dogon Standing Male Star Gazer Figure

Seventy-one inches, and almost no width. A man drawn in iron.

Dogon smiths, respected for their mastery of fire and metal, forged figures in strikingly elongated, abstracted forms for ritual and shrine use. This star gazer figure, copper and iron, Mali, 20th century, reduces the human body almost to line: a small flattened head at the very top, two long slender arms falling from the shoulders, a tall thin body descending to a small flared foot.

Green verdigris and dark corrosion cover the metal.

Airy and quietly dramatic. It looks up. You will, too.