Summer and Winter Item Number: Na902 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Print depicting summer and winter activities. Three stacked layers in the image: bottom level has a tent, and a boat with oars and a sail. The middle level has an inverted canoe on rock piles, the torso of a man, and a fish float. The top level has a drying rack, and a dog (?) curled up in front of an igloo. The names of the artist and the printmaker are printed in Inuit syllabics with the Cape Dorset stylized red igloo seal in lower right-hand corner. Below the image is written, "Summer and Winter Lithograph 9/50 Dorset Kananginak 1976" with the name of the artist (?) written in Inuit syllabics. The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council's blind embossed stamp is at the lower left-hand edge, and the Cape Dorset Cooperative's 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

Item History

What

Name
Summer and Winter
Identification Number
Na902
Type of Item
print
Manufacturing Technique
lithographed and printed
Overall
height 45.8 cm, width 58.8 cm
Image
height 41.5 cm, width 54.0 cm

Who

Culture
Inuit
Creator
Kananginak Pootoogook (Maker) and Pitseolak Niviaqsi (Technician)
Previous Owner
Guenter Adolphs
Received from
Guenter Adolphs (Donor)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada and Kinngait, Nunavut, Canada

When

Creation Date
during 1976
Collection Date
before 1983
Ownership Date
before December 15, 1983
Acquisition Date
on December 15, 1983

Other

Item Classes
works on paper
Condition
excellent
Accession Number
0914/0172