Building the Igloo Item Number: Na751 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Print depicting nine figures in brown: a figure with a harpoon, a woman with a harpoon, a child, two figures working on the outside of a blue igloo, and the head of a figure poking out the top of the igloo. Below these figures are a figure with a loaded sled, another figure with an empty sled, and a figure standing between them. Below the image is written, "Building the Igloo 2/50 Jamasie 1968." The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council blind embossed stamp is in the bottom 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.

Cultural Context

contemporary art