The sustaining power of Inuit art: Inuit art has evolved
from humble beginnings in Canada to become a highly
collectible art form worldwide
Art Business News, Dec, 2001 by Lisa Crawford Watson
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For centuries, the Inuit people of Arctic Canada have endured the harsh climate, and unforgiving terrain of their
native home, making their way not by taming the land but by accepting what it will offer. Through hunting and fishing,
and by forging a relationship with the flora and fauna of their environment, theirs is a highly spiritual and determined
existence. And this spirituality is evident in their highly popular, distinctive art forms.
Not unlike the hand-carved bowl that serves a function in tribal Africa yet under glass and gallery lighting becomes
fine art, the small carvings and simple drawings created by the Inuit to express culture have evolved from humble
beginnings to become highly collectible art forms.
From Humble Beginnings
In the early 1950s, Canadian painter James Houston, his wife, Alma, and others like them saw the potential for
creativity and commerce in the Inuit art forms. They helped teach the Inuit people more advanced methods of
carving stone of both intimate and heroic proportions. They learned to prepare stone for printmaking, reminiscent of
the Japanese wood block, a resource unavailable in the frozen tundra of Northern Canada. More recently, their
prints derive from etchings, engravings and stencils, as well.
The first company reported to deal in Inuit art as early as the late 1940s, was the North West Company, which
continues to provide resources and promote their art on an international scale. The Canadian government also was
purchasing Inuit art, as were other trading companies, which continue to play an important role in the development of
Inuit economy and lifestyle.
A Thriving Marketplace
Today, the art of the Inuit has grown into a fully established and viable genre of fine art, whose product reaches an
international market. Art galleries throughout Canada, the Pacific Northwest and across the U.S. feature Inuit art
either as an exclusive genre or as a complementary art form, whose interpretation is as diverse as the definition of
art.
"Since its introduction to the United States, there has always been a market for this art form," said Lesley Leonhardt
who, with partner Helena Sobol, features Inuit art at the San Francisco gallery, Images of the North. "The subject
matter appeals to people, speaks to them with its spiritual and monumental qualities. Even if it's small, it seems
bigger. It's sculpture you can touch and handle. People like that. You can't handle bronzes in this way."
Leonhardt also deals in Inuit graphic arts on paper, a commercial art form that is becoming increasingly popular,
particularly as the resources for stone sculpture become more limited.
"We get our prints from Dorset Fine Arts," said Leonhardt, "a division of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative Ltd.,
which is the longest-running co-operative of limited-edition prints. Like the sculpture, the images represent a very
naive viewpoint in the art world. The artists weren't taught green grass and blue sky; their work reflects a childlike yet
sophisticated quality born out of their own aesthetic."
The co-operative was formed and incorporated in 1959 in Cape Dorset, an Inuit community located on the southwest
edge of Baffin Island in the eastern Arctic. It has since developed an international reputation for its promotion of both
stone sculpture and graphic arts. In 1978, the cooperative established a marketing office in Toronto through which it
sells products to galleries specializing in Inuit art. Every year, during the fall season, Dorset Fine Arts releases a
catalog of its annual print collection, 50 editions of some 20 to 30 images on high-quality paper, for which galleries
specializing in Inuit art vie on behalf of their collectors. They then make the prints available on the same day across
the country. This year, the prints went on sale Oct. 19.
"We purchase a set of images and sell them through a lottery," said Lisa Steinbrueck who, with Susan R. Helmke,
sells Inuit art through Snowgoose Associates, their Seattle gallery. "Some people sell them on a first-come,
first-served basis, but then you get a line forming around the block. It's easy to get hooked on these images. They
definitely have a good feeling."
Derek Norton, co-owner of Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, actually purchases two editions of the prints, which
the gallery sells both in person and by phone.
"Print dealers agree that all prints should be held available the day of the opening," said Norton. "The phones go on
the hook at 10 a.m. and it's open season. We have a fair amount of crossover clients, who collect both sculpture and
prints, but prints can be collected quite deeply. Some are stone blocks, some are stone blocks with stenciling; they
are moving more and more toward lithography. It was nothing in the late `70s and `80s compared to what it is now.
We are trying to support those who are really doing something or saying something with their art."
Artists of Note
Among the Inuit artists who have recognized their power and realized their potential is Kenojuak Ashevak from Cape
Dorset. Part of the original group of artists trained as youngsters in the `50s, Ashevak developed her own style of art
throughout the `70s to become one of the most widely recognized artists of her genre.
"In fact," said David Carlson, assistant director of Chicago's Orca Aart Gallery, "Canada actually used one of her
prints on a stamp and another on a Canadian coin." Other artists of renown in the print genre, all of whom are from
Cape Dorset, include Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootnoogook, Pudlo Pudlat, Lucy Qinnuyuak and Jamasie
Teevee. Kenojuak and Napatchie are the only two pioneer artists still living.
A Diverse Collector Base
Collectors are as diverse as the art itself, yet they share an awareness of the principal artists and a keen interest in
their culture. Apt to select a piece more for the aesthetic than the market value, they can choose within a range that
includes $11 antler figurines and $20,000 heroic works in stone.
"Collectors are all over the map, from the most humble to the very wealthy," said Leonhardt. "They generally are well
educated and are generally very nice people. They are hungry for knowledge about the art form, eager to meet the
artists and find out who they are. They tend not to buy for the investment, although they do on occasion, but usually
they are drawn to the piece."
Steinbrueck and Helmke make sure their Seattle gallery features a diversity of art sufficient to cater to an equally
varied market. "The art is really very affordable," said Steinbrueck. "With work produced at all levels and price
brackets, everyone can afford this art. We try to have a wide range because everyone is not rich, but everyone
should have access to Inuit art."
In addition to the sculpture and graphic art of the Inuit, Snowgoose Associates represents tapestries and
wool-applique wall hangings, an art form which has continued to gain importance in the genre. It also features
Northwest Coast art, whose images are characterized by a more totemic or emblematic style. Yet Steinbrueck is
confident that Inuit art complements other genres, as well.
"You definitely can add the Inuit genre to the mix," Steinbrueck said. "A lot of people collect both Inuit and Japanese
art; both suggest a primitive and a naivete that people appreciate. It also can go really well with contemporary art; it
has a kind of newness to it. But it works well with folk art or a more rustic style, too. What it really has is a spirit and a
sense of humor that speaks to your soul. One of the first things collectors say is that they get a good feeling
because of the infusion of spirit in their pieces."
About 20 years ago, when working with a top contemporary gallery in Vancouver, Derek Norton didn't want to
introduce landscapes, so he and his associates turned to Inuit art. It worked well then, and it still does.
David Carlson is open to the idea but is not as convinced. "We've had clients at Orca Aart who do decorative art and
will buy pieces that can fit into their scheme," he said. "A lot of it is mystical and fun. I don't think it necessarily
intermingles with modern art, but others may, particularly if they collect specific subject matter, such as bears or
birds or seals."
As galleries continue to introduce Inuit art into their spaces, the challenge is how to add more works when stone is
becoming increasingly scarce and more difficult to quarry, and the Inuit community is losing an entire generation of
top artists--the pioneers.
"The early artists who really created and defined this genre are old," said Norton, "and many of them are already
gone. It's going to take awhile for the subsequent generation to learn the craft, meld two distinct cultures and sort
out their place in the market. In the meantime, it becomes harder and harder to find great pieces."
In times of scarcity and of plenty, the Inuit have known for centuries that life is art, and that maintaining their sense of
whimsy and humor, as well as their deep sense of culture and spirituality, will sustain both.
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