African Arts Gallery

Guro Mask (N° 16959)

African Masks Gouro from central Côte d'Ivoire
This monoxyle sculpture features a smiling female face, whose hairstyle is topped by a tambourine. The room is enhanced with dark and beige tones, plum reflections for the face.
Among the group of Mande in the south, in the center of Côte d'Ivoire, on the banks of the Bandama, the Gouro are organized in lineages, and constitute the western neighbors of the Baoulé who have borrowed several characteristics of their creations. Animists, they have been using a family of masks associated with the dy Zaouli. Indeed, like the African masks Goli des Baoulé, all Guro masks, related to the geniuses of nature, come in two zoomorphic masks followed by a third anthropomorph, who is considered the wife of the mask zamblé , the Gu . The Gu , whose function is apotropaic, represents a young woman with the beauty criteria specific to The Guro, especially facial scarifications and lined teeth. It is by singing in honor of the zamblé that the Gu, according to the sound of the flute, moves gracefully. The dancer is fully clothed with brightly coloured fabrics and plant fibres in harmony with the mask's polychromy, and performs various acrobatic feats in front of an attentive audience. According to the authors Fisher and Homberger in "Art of the Ivory Coast", as soon as a mask seems to no longer attract public interest, it is left behind for a new copy.