Untitled Date Unknown

This sculpture of dark stone depicts a seated figure handling an animal. Its anonymity invites us to consider what Inuit sculpture has meant, and continues to mean, in the North American art world. Looking closely, we might ask what cultural institutions have shaped its status as art. How did a tradition of carving, produced for purposes other than display, come to be exhibited in museums like this one? We know that as early as the late nineteenth century, anthropologists and other visitors collected Inuit carvings, thus creating a market for them. Later, in the mid-twentieth century, the Canadian government encouraged Inuit artists to produce carvings for sale in the south, establishing cooperatives and marketing boards to support the industry. What happens when an object that once served a practical or spiritual purpose enters the context of art? This question requires research into changing markets, museum collecting practices, and of course the voices of the artists themselves.