TWO EXHIBITIONS OF DOGON ART (REPUBLIC OF MALI) IN THE STATE MUSEUM OF ORIENTAL ARTS
One of the objectives of the exhibition “Sirius Captives. Travel to the Dogon Country”, held at the State Museum of Oriental Arts (Moscow) from May 23 to June 12, 2019, was a demonstration of the diversity of the Dogon art tradition from the XV (possibly X) to the XXI century. These are objects from the era of the precursors of the Dogon, Tellem, to modern fine and decorative art from several villages in the south (Endé and Bagourou) and in the north (Tintan) of the Bandiagara Highlands. Before two exhibitions at the State Museum of Oriental Arts, in Russia the Dogon art of was exhibited only once. In September and October 2016, the Lipetsk Museum of Folk, Decorative and Applied Arts hosted the exhibition “Mysterious Africa”, which exhibited items from the private collection of A. Klokov. The exhibits of the State Museum of Oriental Arts completely fall out of the generally accepted notions of traditional art as being devoid of any signs of individuality and not subject to any changes over the centuries, which makes the exhibition a noticeable event not only cultural but also scientific. The items of the exhibition, at least, seriously doubt the truth of the established ideas about the traditional Dogon culture, and to some extent the truth of the ideas about the traditional art of the whole of Africa.