Inuit Art

Inuit art refers to artwork produced by Inuit people, that is, the people of the Arctic previously known as Eskimos, a term that is now often considered offensive outside Alaska. Historically their preferred medium was walrus ivory, but since the establishment of southern markets for Inuit art in 1945, prints and figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such as soapstone, serpentinite, or argillite have also become popular.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery claims to have the largest collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. In 2007, the Museum of Inuit Art opened in Toronto but given the lack of resources it closed in 2016. Carvings Nunavut, owned by Inuk Lori Idlout, opened in 2008 and has grown to have the largest private collection in Nunavut. The Inuit owned and operated gallery includes a very wide selection of Inuit made art that has millions in inventory. Along with its gallery Idlout supplies the raw materials for carving, the tools, advances to Inuit artists, temporary housing for out of town artists while they carve for the gallery and a place for artists to carve at their warehouse. Carvings Nunavut also works very closely with private collectors by catering to their requests and if the client is not satisfied, the artwork is incorporated into the gallery, eliminating any risks to the client.

Around 4000 BCE nomads known as the Pre-Dorset or the Arctic small tool tradition (ASTT) crossed over the Bering Strait from Siberia into Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Labrador. Very little remains of them, and only a few preserved artifacts carved in ivory could be considered works of art. The Dorset culture, which became culturally distinct around 600 BCE, produced a significant amount of figurative art in the mediums of walrus ivory, bone, caribou antler, and on rare occasion stone. Subjects included birds, bears, walruses, seals, and human figures, as well as remarkably small masks. The Dorsets depicted bears and other animals in ivory with lines indicating their skeletal system incised on the surface of the ivory; bears in such a style are known as "flying bears". These items had a magical or religious significance, and were either worn as amulets to ward off evil spirits, or used in shamanic rituals.

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Wikipedia