Inuit Art: All You Need to Know

The introduction of Inuit art to a broader art audience below the northern tree line of Canada in 1949 was the beginning of the Inuit art with which we are now familiar. Sculptures and graphic arts are the most sought-after and popular mediums among Inuit artists and their audiences.

The Early History: How Did the World Come to Know Inuit Art?

Before and after Inuit culture came to replace Thule culture around 1400, different groups of people who resided in the Arctic created artworks that were beautifully carved and decorated utilizing what they could find in their surroundings, such as animal bone, ivory, and stone. Inuit artists incorporated their unique designs into almost everything they used daily such as their harpoon and lamp. Western audiences started to notice the beauty of Inuit art through James Houston’s efforts to bring hundreds of carvings down to the south in 1949. James Houston was an artist himself from Toronto, Canada.

The First Print Studio in the Canadian Arctic Community

James Houston introduced printmaking while encouraging Inuit artists to create sculptures in 1957. This is when Kananginak Pootoogook started working with Houston, who was given an Inuit name Saumik which means “left-handed one” by the community. Kananginak Pootoogook became a pivotal figure in the print studio and the West Baffin/Kinngait Co-operative. He worked as an artist, one of the original printers of the studio, and the first spokesperson for the Co-op.

The following year Houston helped the community open a printmaking shop. This was the beginning of the many great prints to come out of the community. Another important figure in the studio was an art graduate from Toronto, Terry Ryan. His position as the general manager for over thirty years positively impacted three generations of Inuit artists. Ryan promoted the growing art community as well as sales in the South by sourcing materials and markets for the artworks.

Inuit Sculptures

Sculpture is the most well-known and beloved medium of Inuit art. It is one of the few longest-standing forms of art within the culture. Inuit sculptures often reflect their way of life. In the 1950s and 1960s, the increased need for the markets in the South influenced the subjects depicted, such as hunter and nurturing mother and child. The artist tended to focus on what the Western audience would like to see in the sculptures. But the reality of the Inuit worldview started to come through the works soon after the early days.

Different interpretations of their myths and stories passed down from earlier generations appeared in each artist’s sculpture. One thing the viewer could notice is that spirits and animals take almost human-like forms, which are rooted in their cultural belief in the interconnection between humans, animals, and elements of their region. The materials are often sourced from stones or bones nearby.

Inuit Graphic Arts

Among Inuit artists, stone-cut, engraving, and lithography have been used the most since the introduction of printmaking in the region. All three methods are used for their unique characteristics. The collaboration between artists and printmakers is crucial to create any prints.

The common subject matter include animals the artists see in the environment, myths, and daily activities. The richness of Inuit culture is apparent in every print and Western audiences could see a glimpse of it through storytelling elements in the prints. Viewing a print/graphic art is similar to reading a story told by an Inuk artist.

One little fact about the prints is you can identify a printmaker of a print by a stamped mark which is made with a carved stamp called “chops” on either bottom corner.

Inuit Tattoos

Tattooing has been a part of the Inuit traditions for centuries before the first encounter with Europeans. This particular practice had been minimized by the influence of colonial efforts from Europeans in the 19th century, along with millennia-long Inuit belief systems and cultural practices.

Now body tattooing is on the rise by the emerging generations of Inuit women. According to tradition, Inuit women need to be tattooed to be transitioned into the spiritual world as a coming-of-age ritual, and each line and dot contains meaning and indicates a woman’s history, background, and other personal stories. Contemporary Inuit women such as Angela Hovak Johnston are reclaiming and revitalizing their almost forgotten culture by tattooing their bodies and faces.

Contemporary Inuit Art (And Its Future)

Common themes found in artworks from contemporary Inuit artists are an artist’s journey to recognize and heal from traumas and memories from their communities. The artists working in the present are part of the fourth-generation Inuit artists and their works are not in any way limited to the above forms of art.

An inaugural exhibition INUA celebrated a new Inuit art center, Qaumajuq, which holds the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. It is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba (First Nations Treaty 1 territory), and is an excellent exhibition that provides insight into the future of Inuit art.