Dogon Seated Hermaphrodite Figure in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Title: Seated Hermaphrodite Figure

Date: 18th century

Geography: Mali

Culture: Dogon peoples

Medium: Wood

Dimensions: H. 30 3/8 × W. (approx.) 9 × D. (approx.) 13 in. (77.2 × 22.9 × 33 cm)

Classification: Wood-Sculpture

Credit Line: Collection of James J. and Laura Ross


In Dogon society, sculptures that were used to petition higher powers for sustenance and new life have historically been the creations of professional blacksmiths. Each village typically has several families that specialize in smithing. Mystical powers allow them to deploy earth, air, and fire to make the iron tools upon which agriculture, and thus society at large, depend. The voluminous corpus of sculptural works they produce in cast metal and carved wood, while richly diverse, often emphasizes a graphic, angular definition of the human figure.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/736448