Cape Dorset prints: A retrospective. Fifty Years of Printmaking at the Kinngait Studios

By Leslie Boyd Ryan Smyth-sewn casebound with jacket; 27,5 x 28 cm. More than 200 color and black-and-white illustrations 304 pp. Text: English

In 1956, artist James Houston came with his wife, Alma, to Cape Dorset as the northern service officer with the Canadian government's Department of Northern Affairs. One of his duties was to foster the production of carvings and other handicrafts by the Inuit residents. By 1959, the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative had been formed, laying the groundwork for a legendary printmaking tradition. Today, the annual release of Cape Dorset prints, produced by the Co-operative's Kinngait Studios, is eagerly anticipated by collectors from around the world. 'Cape Dorset Prints: A Retrospective', edited by Leslie Boyd Ryan, is the first book to tell the full story of this historic printmaking community. Essays by a dozen participants - including Terrence Ryan, who took over the helm from James Houston, and Kenojuak Ashevak, perhaps the best known of the Cape Dorset artists - present different perspectives on the artistic, economic, and social developments that, in a mere fifty years, have brought international prominence to this Arctic hamlet. More than two hundred stonecuts, linocuts, engravings, lithographs, etchings, original works on paper, and photographs grace the pages of this book. Images of Arctic wildlife, such as ravens, owls, caribou, and polar bears, and depictions of shamans, hunters, seafarers, and traditional camp life offer a visceral experience of life in the far north while tracing the continually changing visual sensibilities of the Cape Dorset artists.