GURO
- Ivory Coast
A population of 200,000,
the Guro tribe live to the west of the Baule in the
Ivory Coast.
The daily life of the
Guro is obsessed by secret societies and by a belief
in protective spirits, to whom the Guro used to build
shrines and figures. The most significant here is
the Je society, which is responsible for social, political,
and lawful questions, decisions of piece and war,
policing tasks, and the detection of damaging forces
and appearing at funerals of members. This male society
uses a variety of manlike and zoomorphic masks, some
fitted with superstructures, all apparently fatal
for women to view. Village life is controlled by a
council of elders, representing each main family,
and by secret societies.
The art of the Guro
is characterised by extreme sophistication. The Baule
and Guro styles are very difficult to separate. The
Guro style has distinguishing marks, the face of the
human mask is usually long while the forehead and
bridge of the nose form an stylish S-shaped profile.
The tattoo pattern cut on forehead and cheeks is a
duplication of the short tattoo marks on the men’s
faces. Another difference of Guro masks is the wide,
wooden collar that serves as a furnishing for the
raffia. There are multicoloured, and black and brown
polished masks. There is a stronger tendency to add
animal features to the human face – elephant’s
ears, or a superstructure in the shape of a cockerel’s
or other bird’s head, compared to the Baule.
The hairdo is often carved in elaborate mesuarable
patterns, overcome by horns or a totem animal. With
some masks the nose forms an animal-like beak. There
are also human masks with long horns and a superstructure
using of one or two human figures. The masks are complemented
by large costumes of palm-frond strips or reed-grass,
which totally cover the dancer’s body. The Je
animal masks are the first to appear at a ceremony
where they prepare the audience for the performance
of the more powerful, manlike figures.
The Guro artists also
carved figures, which appear either during entertainment
festivals on the head of a dancer, or are kept in
houses and used as faith figures. These figures are
carved with their hands on their hips and have a columnar
neck supporting a head. The beautiful weaving-loom
pulleys are overcome with heads, often female, of
great beauty, representing the protective spirit of
labor.
