Montreal Galleries Are Source for Eskimo Art

Few Eskimos live in this charming capital of French-Canadian culture. Yet it is a showcase for Inuit or Eskimo art. Exceptional galleries display and sell sculptures, carvings and exquisitely colored prints.

Montreal galleries have fine collections, with prices averaging 30% less than they would for comparable items sold in the United States. The galleries also stock books and other reference material on the art.

Since Inuit communities are small, isolated and inaccessible to tourists--some are in the middle of the tundra, where temperatures fall to 100 degrees below zero--it makes sense to buy them here.

In settlements such as Cape Dorset, Pelly Bay, Frobischer Bay, Repulse Bay, Holman, Baker Lake, Pangnirtung and Povungnituk, treasures representing the fascinating culture and history of the Inuit people are produced by hand, using traditional materials and techniques.

It was not until the 1950s that the Inuit people began to abandon their nomadic lifestyle, which centered on hunting and fishing, for survival, in favor of permanent settlements.

Since then, cultural assimilation has been rapid. Snowmobiles have replaced traditional dog sleds. Igloos and sealskin tents have been exchanged for wooden huts. Guns are used more frequently than harpoons.

In much the same way as his ancestors did, the modern-day sculptor digs up the gray soapstone or green serpentine for carving or searches the countryside for antler or bone.

Since whale hunting is restricted, most whalebone sculpture is made from bone found in remote Arctic coastal areas.

Loons and eider ducks are hunted and their skins sewn into tapestries. Caribou horn is carved with elaborate decoration, using a technique developed by the Inuit more than 1,000 years ago.

Although they have only been practicing printmaking since 1950, the Inuit artists have major workshops in Cape Dorset, Holman, Baker Lake, Pangnirtung and Povungnituk. Each workshop uses similar techniques for stone cutting and stenciling, yet the resulting prints are distinct in style, depending upon their workshop of origin.

For example, the soft soapstone used at Cape Dorset allows for textural patterning and production of complex images.

The Pangnirtung workshop uses hard soapstone that permits fine, detailed renderings of fur and skin. In Povungnituk, artists beautifully combine stencil with stone-cutting techniques. Baker Lake is known for its complex and highly decorative linear designs.

The designs portray the traditional way of life, as well as Inuit myth.

Among the most popular themes is the hunt. It is seen in statues of men in pursuit of bears or seals. Their spears raised for the kill, the soapstone hunters are filled with kinetic tension. Other sculptures show men ice fishing, their lines wound around their wrists and pulled tight by biting fish.

Another frequent character illustrated in Inuit art is the mythological goddess Sedna--half-woman, half-fish who is believed to control the sea and all living creatures. Her happy expression hides her sad, complex story of cruel love and fatherly betrayal. She is a charming figure and a favorite of many Inuit sculptors.

Belief in the magical skill of medicine men is expressed in sculptures of animals with human features. In such pieces, humans with magical powers transform themselves into animal spirits or animals are transformed into other animals.

Bear, seal, musk ox and dog are often sculpted as fetishes. Art also is decorated with portrayals of mother and child and other scenes from family life.

For an overview of Inuit art, begin at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 3400 Museum Ave. It has an extraordinary collection of Inuit art and a shop selling carefully selected sculptures, priced about $200 and up. The museum also sells silk scarves decorated with Inuit scenes (about $40).

The Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, 2025 Peel St., is a nonprofit organization with a large collection of varied Inuit prints (about $20 and up) and sculptures dating from the 1950s. The sculptures begin at about $60, depending on size, detail, age and, most important, the artist. The Canadian Guild of Crafts provides information about individual artists, including lists of their exhibitions and names of collectors who have purchased their work.

Galerie Elca London, 1616 Sherbrooke St. West, is a private gallery that shows the work of contemporary Inuit and Canadian artists. Much of the gallery’s extensive collection of Inuit pieces is in offices and storerooms, so you must ask to see it. You’ll be treated to some unusual pieces, some old pieces and some by outstanding artists. Prices from under $100 to the thousands.

Nearby, Eskimo Art Gallery, 1434 Sherbrooke St. West, is Montreal’s most exclusive Inuit art dealer, offering finely detailed quality pieces for about $250 and up. It has been in business for 30 years.

Le Chariot, 446 Place Jacques Cartier, which has dealt in Inuit art only since 1985, claims to have the largest selection. There are three floors of galleries filled with Inuit soapstone sculptures gathered from all over Canada, from $40 to $25,000. Good pieces begin at $150.

Le Rouet, 700 St. Catherine St. West, offers a sampling of reasonably priced Canadian craft, with Inuit sculpture, prints and clothing well represented. A $12 soapstone paperweight with a polar bear etched into its surface is a lovely souvenir. Mukluks (Inuit moccasin boots) are about $20. All are handmade.

Prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing.