In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art (Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series)

Collection of 20 papers on contemporary Indian and Inuit art in Canada, on the occasion of the first major retrospective exhibition on the theme, in 1988-1989. Includes an overview of the evolution of native art, regional styles, individual artists and the variety of media. Abstract Contents 1. INTRODUCTION • Gerald McMaster 2. THE FOURTH WORLD AND FOURTH WORLD ART • Nelson H.H. Graburn 3. “The Whites Are Thick As Flies In Summertime”: INDIAN/WHITE RELATIONS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY • Joanne MacDonald 4. TRENDS IN NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART 1880–1959: Decline and Expansion • Peter L. Macnair 5. IN SEARCH OF THINGS PAST, REMEMBERED, RETRACED, AND REINVENTED • Martine Reid 6. TENUOUS LINES OF DESCENT: Indian Art and Craft of the Reservation Period • Gerald McMaster 7. THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONDITIONS OF LIFE FOR THE INDIANS OF CANADA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY • Peter R. Gerber 8. INDIAN ARTISTS’ STATEMENTS THROUGH TIME • Viviane Gray 9. THE ART OF CANADA’S INDIANS AND THE MODERN AESTHETIC • Gerhard Hoffmann 10. OF PUBLIC CONCERN, THE PENSIONING OF THE VISUAL ARTS IN CANADA SINCE 1945 • Michael Bell 11. NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART FROM 1950 TO THE PRESENT • Karen Duffek 12. “MESSAGES FROM THE PAST”: Oral Traditions and Contemporary Woodlands Art • Ruth B. Phillips 13. POSTMODERN CULTURE AND INDIAN ART • Gerhard Hoffmann 14. CANADIAN INUIT CULTURE 1800–1950 • Ernest S. Burch, Jr. 15. THE HISTORY OF INUIT CULTURE • Patricia Sutherland 16. SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION AMONG CANADIAN INUIT FROM 1950 TO 1988 • Marybelle Mitchell 17. INUIT ART: A History of Government Involvement • Helga Goetz 18. THE AESTHETICS OF INUIT ART: Decoration, Symbolism, and Myth in Inuit Graphics; Material, Form, and Space in Inuit Sculpture; The Context of Moderism and Postmodernism • Gerhard Hoffmann 19. TALKING WITH THE ARTISTS • Dorothy Harley Eber 20. CONTEMPORARY INUIT SCULTURE: An Approach to the Medium, the Artists, and their Work • Marie Routledge and Ingo Hessel 21. INUIT TEXTILE ARTS • Maria Muehlen 22. THREE DECADES OF INUIT PRINTMAKING: Evolution and Artistic Trends, 1958–1988 • Odette Leroux This volume makes available in English most of the essays written to accompany the Canadian Museum of Civilization's exhibition In the shadow of the sun. Not included from the original German publication are the exhibition catalogue section and the essays by Gisela Hoffmann, Bernadette Driscoll and Elizabeth McLuhan. However, Viviane Gray's article appears in this document for the first time. Complemented by images of contemporary Indian and Inuit art, the book provides an overview of the evolution of contemporary Canadian Native art. Regional styles as well as the styles of individual artists are discussed, and the various subjects, themes and techniques reflected in the works of art are examined