African Arts Gallery

Gouro mask (N° 23020)

African mask Guro, sculpted in the image of the works of the master of Bouafle. It depicts a face with fine features wearing an amulet as dictated by the custom among Guro women. This mask intervened with Zamble and Zaouli, but would no longer be used today. ("Guro", ed. 5Continents, pl.13) Reddish brown matte patina. Abrasions and lack on the internal contour.

Among the group of Mande from the south, in the center of Côte d'Ivoire, on the banks of the Bandama, the Gouro are organized into lineages, and constitute the western neighbors of the Baoulé who borrowed several characteristics from their African tribal art creations. Animists, since the 1950s they have been using a family of masks associated with the Zaouli dance. Indeed, like the African Goli masks of the Baoulé, the set of Guro masks, relating to the geniuses of nature, comes in two zoomorphic masks followed by a third anthropomorphic, which is considered to be the wife of the mask zamblé , the Gu. Priest and diviner share the predominant ritual functions among the Guro. Secret associations worship the geniuses of nature, through the masks in which the spirits are believed to reside. Their protective spirits called zuzu were worshiped through statues placed on altars. The gu, gye and dye masks, in the hands of notables, are only exhibited during major funerals or the enthronement of a chief (Kerchache)