African Arts Gallery

Entertainment mask combining a face and animal elements. Polychrome patina.
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, related 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)