Arktiline kunst

Abstract

For a long time the subsistence of Canadian Inuits, or Eskimos, depended on the cost of hunting products, of fur, in particular. The migratory lifestyle kept their households free of any excess objects, which is why their original artistic self-expression was limited to decorating objects of utility, including the series of pictures used at storytelling. After WWII the Canadian government launched a pilot project to support the population of Hudson Bay, in the course of which James A. Houston (born in 1921) was commissioned to create models of miniature plastic art, which could be used by the local population to produce miniature steatite figures. This form of Inuit folk art, which emerged only sixty years ago, has by now produced a number of artists with an interesting signature, like minimalist Lucy Tasseor from Keewatin, Joanassie (Joanassie Manning) from Cape Dorset and Peter Sevogat from Baker Lake. The artists have a high social position in their home communities.