Inuit Art: An Introduction [Paperback]

Ingo Hessel (Author), Dieter Hessel (Author), George Swinton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2003

Although the Inuit have lived in the Artic since prehistoric times, Inuit art as we know it only came about in the late 1940s. This contemporary art form is appreciated around the world for its power and exquisite beauty, an art that embodies the Inuit’s harsh artic environment, unique way of life, and traditional beliefs. This historical, cultural, and aesthetic exploration of Inuit art features examples of Inuit drawings, prints, textiles, and sculpture through 125 color photos, 35 black-and-white photos, and maps.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Native Americans of northern Canada (we would call them Eskimos; they prefer Inuit) inhabit a vast area covering all of upper Canada. In the 1950s, the bottom fell out of their staple money source, the fur market. Fortuitously, their carvings were discovered by the Canadian Handicrafts Guild in Montreal. Now, in some areas, 80 percent of the men and women make their living from carving and other arts. Hessel, a former arts official with the Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, shows the transformation of basic native craft to the varied, imaginative, and lively art available today. In the style of many books on Native Americans now, the ethnohistory of the tribe is reviewed and the evolution of mythic representations traced. Given few raw materials?stone, bone, fur, and some ivory in older times and now paper with watercolors, pencils, and pens?these isolated people produce art full of life and motion and permeated with their rich mythology. Though the scale is modest for most pieces, their physicality draws in the viewer. For larger art or ethnic collections.?Gay Neale, Southside Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Alberta
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre; First Trade Paper Edition edition (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550548298
• ISBN-13: 978-1550548297
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully enhanced with full color photography, October 7, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inuit Art (Hardcover)

Inuit Art: An Introduction by Ingo Hessel (Inuit art consultant and former Special Projects Officer and Coordinator of the Canadian Inuit Art Information Centre of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs for the Canadian government), is wonderfully enhanced with the full color photography of Dieter Hessel. Inuit Art covers its subject matter from an historical, cultural, and aesthetic perspective beginning with the roots of Inuit art in prehistoric times, through the arrival of Europeans and their influence on Inuit art beginning in the sixteenth century, down to the mid-twentieth century when Inuit art began attracting a world wide audience. Of special interest is Ingo Hessel's informative discussion of the techniques and materials employed by Inuit artisans in the creations of their unique and distinctive work. Inuit Art is an impressive, superbly presented and welcome contribution to the growing library of Native American Studies in general, and Inuit art history in particular.