Books for your Indigenous Art Library
January 11, 2014
We have a selection of books that will enhance your appreciation of your collection. They include cornerstones like George Swinton's seminal "Sculpture of the Inuit," Leslie Boyd Ryan's comprehensive "Cape Dorset Prints: A Retrospective," Aldona Jonaitis' excellent survey "Art of the Northwest Coast," and Alan Wardwell's definitive "Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait." They also include a number of published collections and more specialized books.
Essential elements of an Inuit art library:
George Swinton, “Sculpture of the Inuit” Third edition – The first edition was the first extensive illustrated survey of Inuit art. Later editions added essays on developments in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Harold Seidelman and James Turner, “The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture” – This is the source that explores Inuit legends and their expression in sculpture.
Leslie Boyd Ryan, “Cape Dorset Prints: A Retrospective/Fifty Years of Printmaking at Kinngait Studios” – Published in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary Cape Dorset print collection, this beautifully illustrated book includes essays by key figures in the development of Inuit graphic arts.
James Houston, “Confessions of an Igloo Dweller” – James Houston’s spur-of-the-moment flight to the Arctic turned out to be momentous for him and for the development of a market for Inuit art. This is his story of his collaboration with the Inuit.
Other Inuit art books:
Jean Blodgett, “Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art”
Odette LeRoux, Marion E. Jackson and Minnie Aodla Freeman, “Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset”
Paul Duval, “The Eskimo Art Collection of the Toronto-Dominion Bank”
Gerald McMaster, “Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection”
Alma Houston, “Inuit Art: an Anthology”
James Houston, “Eskimo Prints”
Norman Zepp, “Vision and Form: The Norman Zepp-Judith Varga Collection”
Canadian Eskimo Art Council, "Sculpture/Inuit"
"Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 5,Arctic"
Alaskan and Old Bering Sea art:
Dorothy Jean Ray, “Eskimo Masks: art and ceremony”
Alan Wardwell, “Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait”
Susan W. Fair, “Alaska Native Arts and Crafts”
Northwest Coast art:
Aldona Jonaitis, “Art of the Northwest Coast”
Northwest Coast Indian Artifacts from the H.R. MacMillan Collections in the Museum of Anthropology (U. British Columbia Press)
Bill Holm, “Spirit and Ancestor: A Century of Northwest Coast Indian Art at the Burke Museum”
Hilary Stewart, “Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast” – a readable guide to analyzing formline compositions
National Museum of the American Indian, “Listening to Our Ancestors: the Art of Native Life Along the Pacific Northwest Coast”
Alan Wardwell, "Tangible Visions"
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