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Prehistoric period

Around 4000 BC nomads crossed over the Bering Strait from Siberia into Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Newfoundland. The Bering Strait (Берингов пролив Beringov proliv) is a sea Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43' Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent Northern Canada is the vast Northernmost Region of Canada variously defined by Geography and Politics. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the Newfoundland — ˈn(jufənˌlænd (Terre-Neuve Talamh an Éisc — is a large island 15 km off the east coast of Very little remains of them, and only a few preserved artifacts carved in ivory could be considered works of art. Ivory is formed from Dentine and constitutes the bulk of the Teeth and Tusks of animals such as the Elephant, Hippopotamus, [1]

The Dorset culture, as it is now called, produced a significant amount of figurative art between c. The Dorset culture (also called the Dorset Tradition were a Paleo-Eskimo culture that preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. 600 B. C. to 1000 A. D. utilizing ivory, bone, antler, and occasionally stone, to create small-scale birds, bears, walruses, seals, and human figures, and masks. A mask is an artefact normally worn on the face typically for protection concealment performance or amusement [2] These items had a magical or religious significance, and were either worn as amulets to ward off evil spirits, or used in shamanic rituals. An amulet ( the Elder|Pliny]] meaning "an object that protects a person from trouble" a close cousin of the talisman (from Arabic

Around 1,000 A. D. , the people of the Thule culture who were ancestors of today's Inuit, migrated from northern Alaska and either displaced or slaughtered the earlier Dorset inhabitants. The Thule (ˈtuːli or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Canadian Inuit. Inuit (plural the singular Inuk, means "man" or "person" is a general term for a group of culturally similar Indigenous peoples inhabiting 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.

In the 16th century the Inuit began to barter with whalers, missionaries and other visitors to the north for tea, weapons or alcohol. For other uses see Whalers. A whaler is a specialized kind of ship designed for Whaling, the catching and/or processing of A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. Ivory carvings of animals, hunting or camping scenes, which had been decorative tools or shamanic amulets became a trade commodity. Inuit artists also began producing ivory miniatures to be later used to decorate European rifles, tools, boats, and musical instruments. Cribbage boards and carved walrus tusks were intended for the whalers. The walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered Marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and Missionaries, on the other hand, encouraged the introduction of Christian imagery. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth

Contemporary Inuit Art

All of the nomadic Inuit's utensils, tools and weapons were made by hand from natural materials: stone, bone, ivory, antler, and animal hides. They 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 objectify their oral history and deeply held beliefs. Masks among Eskimo peoples were used for several functions. Masks among Eskimo peoples served a variety of functions Masks were made out of Driftwood, animal skins bones and feathers The symbolic meaning of several items of the material culture is unknown, not recorded. In some cases ("flying bear" figure), interpretations can be conjectured by considering beliefs, soul concepts, shamanism among Eskimo peoples, these are far from being homogeneous. Shamanism among Eskimo peoples refers to those aspects of the various Eskimo cultures that are related to the shamans’ role as a mediator between

As the Inuit settled into communities in the late 1940s, their carvings became larger, and the requests to produce them as artwork increased.

The Government of Canada recognized the potential economic benefit of commercial carving to the isolated Arctic communities, and actively encouraged the development and promotion of Inuit sculpture. The Canadian Government, formally Her Majesty's Government in Canada, is the Federal government of Canada. The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. Inuit artists expanded their subject matters beyond utilitarian objects and games. Figures of animals and hunters, family scenes, as well as mythological imagery became popular. Inuit mythology has many similarities to the Religions of other Polar regions Inuit traditional religious practices could be very briefly summarised as a By the 1960s, co-operatives were set up in most Inuit communities, and the Inuit art market began to flourish.

Inuit continue to make pieces entirely by hand. Power tools are occasionally used, but most artists prefer to use just 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 and hours of rubbing.

Since the early 1950s, when Inuit art still had a "primitive" or naïve look, most Inuit artists have adopted a stylistic approach deeply rooted in naturalism. See also Primitivism and Neo-primitivism Naïve art is characterized by a childlike simplicity Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting Their works often appear more refined, especially over the past decade or so, when many artists have developed a preference for highly polished sculpture.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery in Winnipeg,Manitoba has the largest collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG is a public art gallery that was founded in 1912 Winnipeg (ˈwɪnɨpɛg is the capital and largest city in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and 7th largest municipality in Canada with a population Manitoba (English ˌmænɨˈtoʊbə French /manitoba/ is a province of Canada, spanning 647797 square kilometres (250116  sq mi of North America

Notable Inuit artists

See also

External links

Source

  1. ^ The History of Inuit Art. Eskimo Art Gallery.
  2. ^ Hessel & Hessel 1998: 12–13

References

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