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| Bowhead in Amautik Artist Tim Pitsiulak Courtesy Sivertson Art Gallery https://sivertson.com/ |
Despite profound hardships during the relocation time, a serendipitous Southern Canadian helped a small group of illiterate, pre-Industrial Inuit hunters transform themselves into the most remarkable--and unlikely--successful twentieth century artists.
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| Four Seasons Artist Ningeokuluk Teevee Courtesy The Eskimo Art Gallery www.eskimoart.com |
Recollections of James Houston
..late in the summer 1948, the winds of chance carried me into the Canadian Arctic on a rare emergency medical flight. I had been drawing amoung the Swampy Cree Indians of James Bay and leapt at this extraordinary opportunity to fly into the Canadian Arctic. We stopped at two fuel caches beyond the treeline and landed in the single-engine Norseman floatplane at an Inuit camp north of Inukjuak on the east coast of Hudson Bay.
When
we landed, my colleague Dr. Harper immediately went about his medical
business while I hauled out my sketchbook, only to be immediately
surrounded by the rest of the camp of smiling, laughing Inuit families.
I knew three words in their language: igloo, kayak, and that familiar
word Eskimo, or Esquimau, which was completely acceptable at that time.
Those Inuit seemed to me short, tanned, good-natured, and
exotic-looking people with their fur trimmed hoods and their sealskin
pants and boots. The women were carrying plump infants in the hoods of
their long-tailed parkas.Most
of them stood on their toes and carefully observed the drawing I was
making of a man standing near me. He held still for a while, then
eagerly grasped my pencil and sketchbook and started making a strong,
sure drawing of me, even copying my habit of licking my lips in time
with my pencil strokes. All eyes watched him intently, parents holding
up their children to see him sketch. It was a good, quick profile
drawing. I still have it. Then another person took my pad and drew an
old woman. These drawings were surprisingly accomplished, with no
distortion in the portrait of me in the head, the large chin, or the
heavy eyebrows. in theMy thought was, ‘What manner of people is this?’
…(The next day) a man approached me...Naomialuk opened his hand and revealed to me a small stone carving of a caribou with bone antlers. To my delight he gave me this gift, which appeared ancient, like the ones I had seen in museums in the South…Later, I asked the Scottish trader there, Norman Ross, how old he thought it was? "Carved last night or maybe this morning. I'd judge--just for you."
I felt a sense of disappointment, like an antique collector discovering that his ancient treasure has just been newly made. Then a light went on for me. Could this mean that these people, roughly equipped with crude tools, dressed in shabby clothing and living a ragged tents, could this mean that they already possessed a better way of providing for themselves? Money was not known or used. In 1948 their main trade items were white-fox pelts, which had fallen in value to $3, and sealskins traded for 25 cents worth of goods. No trade in carvings then existed. Could their ability as carvers help the Inuit support themselves? An idea flashed into my mind. It was probably by far the most important thought that I have ever had in my entire life. I might be able to help these people develop a channel for their art from the North to art galleries, museums, and collectors in the South. And so it began, one of the most remarkable stories in the history of art patronage. When Houston returned to Montreal he showed his small collection of carvings to the Canadian Guild of Crafts in December 1948. Houston’s nascent idea was a good one. He soon returned to the Arctic with a grant of $1000 plus $500 of his own money to purchase more carvings. When they had the exhibition in Montreal, the entire show sold out, 90% of it in three days. He was soon offered a job with the Canadian government to expand ‘this new Arctic work. He married Allie Bardon and together they traveled around the Arctic on their honeymoon, often by dogsled, hunting for carvings. They settled in Cape Dorset, Baffin Island where they worked for 11 years, traveling all over the Arctic, commissioning Inuit to join the growing art colony. ---Part III next post---
I wish to thank Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais and Duluth, Houston North Gallery, Minnesota and the Eskimo Art Gallery in Toronto, CANADA for generously giving permission to illustrate this feature. Without their help I would have needed thousands more words to convey just a fraction of the beauty of Inuit art.
–Note--Eskimo was the European name for native Arctic people, accepted usage until the 1980s. Inuit is the name Arctic aboriginal peoples call themselves, it means The People. Inuit is used throughout except in quotations or when describing a regional group.
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| James Houston Courtesy Houston Gallery North http://www.houston-north-gallery.ns.ca/gallery |
…(The next day) a man approached me...Naomialuk opened his hand and revealed to me a small stone carving of a caribou with bone antlers. To my delight he gave me this gift, which appeared ancient, like the ones I had seen in museums in the South…Later, I asked the Scottish trader there, Norman Ross, how old he thought it was? "Carved last night or maybe this morning. I'd judge--just for you."
I felt a sense of disappointment, like an antique collector discovering that his ancient treasure has just been newly made. Then a light went on for me. Could this mean that these people, roughly equipped with crude tools, dressed in shabby clothing and living a ragged tents, could this mean that they already possessed a better way of providing for themselves? Money was not known or used. In 1948 their main trade items were white-fox pelts, which had fallen in value to $3, and sealskins traded for 25 cents worth of goods. No trade in carvings then existed. Could their ability as carvers help the Inuit support themselves? An idea flashed into my mind. It was probably by far the most important thought that I have ever had in my entire life. I might be able to help these people develop a channel for their art from the North to art galleries, museums, and collectors in the South. And so it began, one of the most remarkable stories in the history of art patronage. When Houston returned to Montreal he showed his small collection of carvings to the Canadian Guild of Crafts in December 1948. Houston’s nascent idea was a good one. He soon returned to the Arctic with a grant of $1000 plus $500 of his own money to purchase more carvings. When they had the exhibition in Montreal, the entire show sold out, 90% of it in three days. He was soon offered a job with the Canadian government to expand ‘this new Arctic work. He married Allie Bardon and together they traveled around the Arctic on their honeymoon, often by dogsled, hunting for carvings. They settled in Cape Dorset, Baffin Island where they worked for 11 years, traveling all over the Arctic, commissioning Inuit to join the growing art colony. ---Part III next post---
I wish to thank Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais and Duluth, Houston North Gallery, Minnesota and the Eskimo Art Gallery in Toronto, CANADA for generously giving permission to illustrate this feature. Without their help I would have needed thousands more words to convey just a fraction of the beauty of Inuit art.
–Note--Eskimo was the European name for native Arctic people, accepted usage until the 1980s. Inuit is the name Arctic aboriginal peoples call themselves, it means The People. Inuit is used throughout except in quotations or when describing a regional group.
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