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Cultural Context

contemporary art

Description

At top from side on left: male figure holding lines attached to small figure at side on right; third figure at entrance to dwelling; all figures in brown. Below figures are nine white heads of sea creatures and two human-like faces on green ground shading to blue; three white sea creature heads on blue ground. Two creatures in upper area have tusks. Long instrument almost divides green area from blue. Below image from side on left an inscription reads: "Lumaiyo Dorset 42/50 1971 Pitseolak;" artist and printmaker names in Inuit syllabics above Cape Dorset stylized igloo seal. Canadian Eskimo Arts Council's blind embossed stamp in corner on lower right.

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.