Inuit Art Culture at the Museum of Civilization

One of the main features of Inuit culture is Inuit art, particularly the sculptures. Inuit art sculptures has been the ambassadors of Inuit culture from Canada for the last couple of decades.

The Museum of Civilization in Gatineau near Ottawa, Canada has a nice collection of Inuit art dating back from the 1920s to more recent times. This museum is one of the permanent Inuit art galleries in Canada. Several of this museum's pieces are shown on this page.

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The first piece is a polar bear carved from ivory sometime between 1924 to 1926 by an unknown carver from Cape Dorset.

Inuit Art Ivory Polar Bear

Although Inuit art carving has been mainly the domain of men, there have been some excellent female Inuit carvers. Such an example is the piece below of the woman with child by Mary Sanaaq Papigatok in 1957.

Woman with Child by Mary Sanaaq Papigatok

The muskox below was carved by Seepee Ipellie from Cape Dorset in 1980. The horns are made from caribou antler.

Inuit Art Muskox by Seepee Ipellie

The caribou is one of the most important game for the Inuit and one is finely depicted in the sculpture by Osuitok Ipeelee of Cape Dorset carved in 1969 below.

Inuit Art Caribou by Osuitok Ipeelee

Of course, the polar bear remains a mainstay of Inuit culture and the Museum of Civilization has a wonderful piece showing a mother bear with her cubs carved in 1976 by Kananginak Pootooguk of Iqaluit.

Inuit Art Polar Bear with Cubs by Kananginak Pootooguk

The Museum of Civilization has many more fine pieces of Inuit art all showing how deeply Inuit culture is connected with the land and sea. It is a must see attraction if ever in the Ottawa area in Canada. The Inuit Art Videos section lists some clips showing some of these pieces.