Guro (Gouro, Gwio, Kweni, Lo, Lorube), Côte d’Ivoire

Antelope Gye mask. Some 200,000 Guro are sedentary farmers living in the tropical rainforests and wooden savanna of the interior Côte d’Ivoire. They farm predominantly cotton, coffee and cocoa – the men clear the field and the women plant. Power is held on the village level by a council of elders. The Gye male society is responsible for social, political, and juridical questions, decisions of piece and war, policing tasks, and the detection of destructive forces, as well as appearing at funerals of its members. Guro artistic output is dominated by masks. The Gye society uses a variety of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic masks, all ostensibly fatal for women to view. The masks are supplemented by voluminous, multipartite costumes of palm-frond strips or reed-grass, which completely conceal the dancer’s body. They are usually worn during memorial festivals by two dancers, one mask representing the male, the other the female. The Gye animal masks are the first to appear, and they prepare the audience for the performance of the more powerful, anthropomorphic figures. This very artistic mask is strikingly naturalistic representation of an antelope head.

Material:  wood

Size: 32”x 11”x 10”

Price:   $270+$60 (S&H)                               [#U3G6M724]