GURU - 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.