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Cultural Context

contemporary art

Description

Print depicting four rows of animals: the top row depicts four birds, two of which are spotted, and one is green while the others are blue; the next row depicts four caribou, one dark blue, one grey-blue, one orange-brown, and one green; the next row depicts four polar bears, two are outlined in orange-brown, and two are outlined in green; the bottom row depicts three spotted seals, one green, one orange-brown, and one dark blue. The name of the artist is printed in the top right-hand corner of the image with the name of the printmaker, which has been printed along with the Cape Dorset stylized red igloo. Below the image is written, "Umajuit Stone Cut 18/50 Dorset 1975 Jamasie." The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council blind embossed stamp is in the lower right-hand corner.

History Of Use

Contemporary Inuit prints were first produced at Cape Dorset in 1957. Although precursors to printmaking can be seen in women's skin applique work and in men's incising of ivory, stone and bone, the impetus for printmaking was as a commercial venture. This venture was established jointly by Inuit artists and John Houston, the civil administrator for Cape Dorset. Other Inuit communities quickly followed the commercial success of Cape Dorset's West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative. Printmaking developed as a communal activity following a Japanese, rather than a Western, model of serigraph production. Each year the cooperatives produce a series of limited edition prints which are sold in the retail art market. In 1965, the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council was established from the Canadian Eskimo Art Committee to ensure high standards were maintained. Printmaking, along with stone carving, provide cash income for communities which have undergone rapid and significant change, during the late 20th century, from traditional hunting based societies to settled communities dependent on consumer goods. The prevalent images depicted in Inuit art are of traditional life, arctic animals and mythology. Recently, contemporary subjects have been depicted by a minority of artists.