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Inuit art

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Angakkuq,a sculpture by Pallaya Qiatsuq (Cape Dorset,Nunavut Territory, Canada)

Inuit art,also known asEskimo art,refers toartworkproduced byInuit,that is, the people of theArcticpreviously known asEskimos,a term that is now often considered offensive. Historically, their preferred medium waswalrus ivory,but since the establishment of southern markets for Inuit art in 1945,printsand figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such assoapstone,serpentinite,orargillitehave also become popular.

TheWinnipeg Art Galleryhas the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world.[1]In 2007, theMuseum of Inuit Artopened inToronto,[2]but closed due to lack of resources in 2016.[3]

History

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Pre-Dorset and Dorset cultures

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Swimming polar bear carved from walrus ivory, Middle Dorset culture, Iglulik region, Canada

Around 4000BCEnomads known as thePre-Dorsetor theArctic small tool tradition(ASTT) crossed over theBering StraitfromSiberiainto Alaska, theCanadian Arctic,Greenland,andLabrador.[4]Very little remains of them, and only a few preserved artifacts carved in ivory could be considered works of art. TheDorset culture,which became culturally distinct around 600 BCE, produced a significant amount offigurative artin the mediums of walrus ivory, bone, caribou antler, and on rare occasion stone. Subjects included birds, bears, walruses, seals, and human figures, as well as remarkably small masks. The Dorsets depicted bears and other animals in ivory with lines indicating their skeletal system incised on the surface of the ivory; bears in such a style are known as "flying bears".[5]These items had a magical or religious significance, and were either worn asamuletsto ward off evil spirits, or used in theInuit religion.

Ipiutak culture

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TheIpiutakculture seems to represent a classical period of Inuit development. The artwork is extremely elaborate, incorporating geometric, animal, and anthropomorphic designs.[6]

Thule culture

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Around 1000 CE, the people of theThule culture,ancestors of today's Inuit, migrated from northern Alaska and either displaced or slaughtered the earlier Dorset inhabitants.[7]Thule art had a definite Alaskan influence, and included utilitarian objects such as combs, buttons, needle cases, cooking pots, ornate spears and harpoons. The graphic decorations incised on them were purely ornamental, bearing no religious significance, but to make the objects used in everyday life appealing.

All Inuit utensils, tools and weapons were made by hand from natural materials: stone, bone, ivory, antler, and animal hides.Nomadicpeople could take very little else with them besides the tools of their daily living; non-utilitarian objects were also carved in miniature so that they could be carried around or worn, such as delicate earrings,dance masks,amulets, fetish figures, and intricate combs and figures which were used to tell legends and objectifytheir religionandoral history.

16th century

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AlaskanInupiatwovenbaleen basketwith awalrusivory finial, depicting a polar bear, c. early 20th century

In the 16th century Inuit began to barter with Europeanwhalers,missionariesand other visitors to the North for tea, weapons or alcohol. Items previously produced as decorative tools or amulets for theangakkuq(shaman), such as carvings of animals and hunting or camping scenes, became trade commodities. Inuit artists also began producing ivory miniatures specifically as trade goods, to decorate European rifles, tools, boats, and musical instruments. Cribbage boards and carvedwalrusandnarwhaltusks were intended for the whalers. Missionaries encouraged the use ofChristian imagery,which was accepted to a limited extent.

Since 1945

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Traditionally, Inuit carved objects for decoration, use in games, religious purposes, or self-amusement. However the nature and functions of Inuit carvings changed rapidly after contact with European and European-Canadian society. This change accelerated after around 1949, when Inuit began settling into communities, and theCanadian governmentbegan to encourage a carving industry as a source of income for the Inuit. The art changed markedly from the form which prevailed in the past, in size, media, motif, and style.[8]

The Government of Canada's encouragement of commercial carving was initially heavy-handed, as is most clearly shown by the pamphlet "Eskimo Handicrafts", circulated among Inuit communities in the early 1950s.[citation needed]Intended to provide inspiration to Inuit sculptors, this pamphlet depicted artifacts in the collection of theCanadian Museum of Civilization;many of the objects pictured, such astotem poles,were not germane toInuit culture.[citation needed]

The first generation of Inuit artists inKinngait(formerly Cape Dorset) in the 1940s and 1950s sold their carvings to the Baffin Trading Company (1939–1946) and theHudson's Bay Company.TheWest Baffin Eskimo Cooperativewas founded in Kinngait in 1959 and became the primary purchaser of arts and craft items.[9]

Types

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Block printing

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James Archibald Houston,who had helped attract the attention of theCanadian Handicrafts Guildto Inuit carving in the late 1940s, travelled to Kinngait, then called Cape Dorset onBaffin Islandin 1951 and introduced printmaking to the artists' repertoire there.[10][11]Figures of animals and hunters, family scenes, and mythological imagery became popular. By the 1960s, co-operatives were set up in most Inuit communities, and the Inuit art market began to flourish.

From 2018 to 2019, theUniversity of Michigan Museum of Artexhibited Inuit block prints, in an exhibitions calledThe Power Family Program for Inuit Art: Tillirnanngittuq[12](curated by Marion "Mame" Jackson, in collaboration with Pat Feheley).[13]Tillirnannqittuq means "unexpected" inInuktitut,[13]and the show featuredKenojuak Ashevak,Lucy Qinnuayuak,Niviaksiak,Osuitok Ipeelee,Kananginak Pootoogook,andJohnny Inukpuk.[13]

Since the early 1950s, when Inuit graphic styles such as stenciling and block printing were being developed, some Inuit artists have adopted a polished style rooted innaturalism.Other artists, such asJohn Pangnark,have developed a style that ishighly abstract.Both styles are generally used to depict traditional beliefs or animals.

James Houston andPauta Sailaexamining a stone-cut

Stone is a common choice for block printing, but its availability and the fact that the printmakers were often carvers familiar with the stone made it a good choice. During the mid-1980s one of the printmakers, Iyola, who owned a pool hall, experimented with slate made for pool tables and since that time this type of slate has been used for printmaking. Prior to that, stone from the region including steatite andtalc stonewere used.

The final print is a collaboration between the printer/stone carver and the artist. The printer makes some artistic decisions regarding the final product. For example, if the original drawing has a lot of thin lines or intricacies, the printer/carver must alter the drawing in order to make it possible to carve it into stone. Specific aspects of the drawing may be altered in order to fit onto the stone. In one instance the neck of a duck had to be shortened, in another only a portion of the artist's original drawing was selected for reproduction.[14]

The Legend of Lumiuk(1960)
Drawing byKiakshuk
Print byIyola Kingwatsiak

Drawing

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Before the arrival of James Houston to the Arctic in the late 1940s, the Inuit did not have a tradition of drawing images on paper.[15]Artists produced drawings and sold them to the local co-operative or print studio, which would determine the selection of images that would be made into prints.[15]Houston encouraged artists to depict the traditional Inuit way of life in their drawings. Kinngait-based Pitseolak Ashoona was one of the first Inuit artists to explicitly include autobiographical content in her works.[15]She had an important artistic influence on her granddaughter,Annie Pootoogook,and niece,Shuvinai Ashoonawho, through her vivid drawings of everyday life in the North, played a pivotal role in establishing Inuit art as a contemporary art form.[16]

Fashion

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Main articles:Inuit clothingandInuit fashion
Refer to caption
Caribou skinamauti(woman's parka) with extensive seed bead designs, Igloolik or Baffin Island Inuit, accessioned 1924

Inuit clothinghas long been a means of artistic expression for Inuit seamstresses, who historically employeddecorative techniqueslike ornamentaltrimandinlay,dye and other colouring methods, decorative attachments likependantsandbeadwork,and designmotifs,integrating and adapting new techniques and materials as they were introduced by cultural contact.[17][18]

ModernInuit fashionis a subset of the widerIndigenous American fashionmovement. Contemporary Inuit and northern designers use a mix of contemporary and traditional materials to create garments in both traditional and modern silhouettes. Many designers also make jewellery from local or sustainable materials such as bone.[19][20]The work of fashion designerVictoria Kakuktinniq,who focuses on parkas with traditional styling, has been cited as a major influence in the modernization of Inuit fashion.[19]Some designers center aspects of Inuit culture through the visual design of their products, including prints with traditional tools, contemporary northern food products, and geometric designs that originated with traditionalInuit tattooing.[21][22][23]

Sculpture

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Caribou in soapstone byOsuitok Ipeelee,Dennos Museum Center

Inuit sculptures had been produced prior to contact with the Western world. They were small-scale and made of ivory. In 1951, James Houston encouraged Inuit in Kinngait to produce stone carvings.[24]It was mostly men who took up carving. Oviloo Tunnillie was one of the few women to work in sculpture and to garner a national reputation.[25]Today, Inuit continue to carve pieces entirely by hand.Power toolsare occasionally used, but most artists prefer to use an axe and file, as this gives them more control over the stone. The final stage of carving is the polishing, which is done with several grades of waterproof sandpaper and hours upon hours of rubbing. The most common material is nowsoapstone,serpentine,either deposits from the Arctic, which range from black to light green in colour, or orange-red imports from Brazil. Other material used in Inuit sculptures include,caribouantlers, ivory frommarine mammals,and theboneof various animals.

Inuit Art Society

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The Inuit Art Society, of which most members are in theMidwestern United States,was established in 2003. Their mission is "To provide education about and support for the culture, art forms, and artists of the Arctic."[26]There are approximately 100 dues-paying members. Their two-day annual meetings "include native Inuit artists from Canada, knowledgeable speakers about Inuit art and culture, a Marketplace where Inuit art can be purchased, and ample time to meet or reconnect with attendees. Most meetings also include a tour of a private collection near the meeting site and/or an opportunity for a private tour of a public collection."

Notable Inuit artists

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See also

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Sources

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  1. ^"History | Winnipeg Art Gallery".wag.ca.Archived fromthe originalon 2012-04-10.
  2. ^"Museum of Inuit Art".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-04-22.Retrieved2020-01-25.
  3. ^'Small but mighty' Canadian Museum of Inuit Art closing its doors
  4. ^St Onge, Colette.Symbols of Authenticity: Challenging the Static Imposition of Minority Identities through the Case Study of Contemporary Inuit Art.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-12-25.Retrieved2015-02-25.
  5. ^Hessel & Hessel 1998: 12–13
  6. ^Douglas D. Anderson. "Prehistory of North Alaska." InHandbook of the North American Indian,vol. 5, pp. 88–90 (Smithsonian, 1984).
  7. ^Colette G., St-Onge.Symbols of Authenticity: Challenging the Static Imposition of Minority Identities through the Case Study of Contemporary Inuit Art.University of Ottawa Press. p. 29.
  8. ^Rinehart, J.W. The Tyranny of Work: Canadian Social Problems Series, Academic Press Canada, 1975, p. 22.ISBN0-7747-3029-3.See Also Charles A. Martijn, "Canadian Eskimo Carving in Historical Perspective", Anthropos, 59, 1964, pp. 546–596
  9. ^Wight, Darlene Coward (2019).Oviloo Tunnillie: Life & Work.Toronto: Art Canada Institute.ISBN9781487101978.
  10. ^Fox, Margalit (2005-04-22)."James A. Houston, Writer on Eskimo Life, Dies at 83".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2020-03-09.
  11. ^Auger, Emily E. (2005).The Way of Inuit Art: Aesthetics and History in and Beyond the Arctic.Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 101–102, 119–120.ISBN0-7864-1888-5.OCLC55948140.
  12. ^"The Power Family Program for Inuit Art: Tillirnanngittuq | University of Michigan Museum of Art".umma.umich.edu.Retrieved2020-08-28.
  13. ^abc"The Power Family Program for Inuit Art: Tillirnanngittuq Opens March 16 at UMMA | University of Michigan Museum of Art".umma.umich.edu.Retrieved2020-08-28.
  14. ^Blodgett, 1991 p.37
  15. ^abcLalonde, Christine (2015).Pitseolak Ashoona: Life & Work.Toronto: Art Canada Institute.ISBN978-1-4871-0056-8.
  16. ^Campbell, Nancy G. (2020).Annie Pootoogook: Life & Work.Toronto: Art Canada Institute.ISBN9781487102333.
  17. ^King, J.C.H. (2005). "Preface and Introduction". In King, J.C.H.; Pauksztat, Birgit; Storrie, Robert (eds.).Arctic Clothing.Montreal:McGill-Queen's Press.pp. 15, 20.ISBN978-0-7735-3008-9.
  18. ^Pharand, Sylvie (2012).Caribou Skin Clothing of the Igloolik Inuit.Iqaluit, Nunavut: Inhabit Media. p. 69.ISBN978-1-927095-17-1.OCLC810526697.
  19. ^abRogers, Sarah (March 27, 2019)."Nunavut fashion and design come into their own".Nunatsiaq News.RetrievedJuly 1,2021.
  20. ^Boon, Jacob (April–May 2019)."From Iqaluit to the Eiffel Tower".Up Here.RetrievedJuly 1,2021.
  21. ^Kurup, Rohini; Jung, Harry (April 21, 2017)."Inuit artist Becky Qilavvaq melds clothing and culture".The Bowdoin Orient.Retrieved2021-07-11.
  22. ^Rohner, Thomas (February 9, 2017)."Winnipeg conference showcases Nunavut designers, businesses".Nunatsiaq News.RetrievedJune 19,2021.
  23. ^Allford, Jennifer (October 23, 2019)."Reclaiming Inuit culture, one tattoo at a time".CNN.RetrievedJune 19,2021.
  24. ^Wight, Darlene Coward (2019).Oviloo Tunnillie: Life & Work.Toronto: Art Canada Institute.ISBN9781487101978.
  25. ^Wight, Darlene Coward (2019).Oviloo Tunnillie: Life & Work.Toronto: Art Canada Institute.ISBN9781487101978.
  26. ^"About the Inuit Art Society – Inuit Art Society".inuitartsociety.org.Retrieved2020-03-09.

References

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