548
Charles A. Martijn
Anthropos 59-19*b
e) Lastly, Strub (1954:32) perceives it as a "... style which is not self
consciously primitive but is in a living tradition”. Expanding further along this
line, Phillips (1961:43) has argued "... what nonsense it is to talk, as some
have, of the white man developing Canadian Eskimo art. An art, to be authen
tic, must be an expression of life and living, and to say that modern Eskimo art
has been affected by the contact of Eskimos with the white man is to say no more
than that the Eskimo is alive, receptive and sensitive - as he always has been •
Disquisitions by a second body of commentators tend to be more guarded.
Some point out unmistakable evidence of Western influence in the style of the
present day carvings, without necessarily denying the latter a true Eskimo
character 7 . Others have judged it to be an art of acculturation 8 . After reflecting
at some length on the question of when art ceases to be traditional, Meldgaard
(1960b:38) reasons that “the line should probably be drawn when works of art
no longer play a traditional part in Eskimo culture ; in other words, when they
are produced for trading purposes, and to meet a demand from outside •
Swinton (1958:41) has come to the conclusion that "... Eskimo art, or rather
carving in stone, as we know it today is a new art, or at least a new phase of an
age-old activity. Yet, it so markedly differs in almost every respect from prev
ious developments that we are quite safe in calling it a new art”.
Finally, at the opposite end of the scale there stands a third group whose
members firmly disclaim the right of contemporary Canadian Eskimo carving
to be called ‘primitive’ art. Such a position is attributed to Peter Murdoch by
Scherman (1956:295) who quotes him as stating categorically that "... socalled
(contemporary) Eskimo art was invented by the White man”. This point of
view finds support from Carpenter (1960a:346) who maintains that "these
new carvings, however, share little with Eskimo art, or even with Alaskan oi
Greenlandic souvenirs ... Can the word ‘Eskimo’ legitimately be applied to this
art ? I think not. Its roots are Western ; so is its audience ... a new, delightful»
non-Eskimo art” 9 . Perhaps the severest commentary of all has been that ex
pressed by Malaurie (1958a:549). In his estimation, "une récente exposition
d’art esquimau canadien contemporain a rappelé que l’art des civilisations
mourantes est non seulement ‘rabâcheur’, selon le mot d’André Malraux, mais
qu’il a aussi perdu sa valeur créatrice, c’est-à-dire sa portée. Tout ce qui n est
pas ‘utilitaire’ s’y révèle comme moins significatif, de style moins caractérise,
plus gratuit ... Stérilité spirituelle; stérilité civilisationnelle. Elle constitue en
effet la manifestation d’une démission devant le présent et l’avenir dans le vain
espoir de préserver et de promouvoir le passé”.
In order to properly evaluate all these diverse and often conflicting view 5
which have been quoted above, it will be necessary to delve briefly into th e
history of Canadian Eskimo carving. The latter, for this purpose, has been div-
7 Anonymous (1961:1) ; Christensen (1955:84) ; Collins (1961:27) ; Dri veR
(1961:594) ; Gunther (1957:151) ; Jenness (1964:113) ; and Weyer (1960:34).
8 Altman (1960:356) ; Anonymous (1963) ; Dale (1958:35) ; Mary-RousselUU' 1 '
(1960b;14) ; Ray (1961:135) ; and Reichardt (1962:22).
9 He subsequently tempered this view (Carpenter 1962:12).