Eskimo Carving

Eskimo carving is now recognised as one of the great artistic traditions of the world. The unique quality of the sculptures and decorative work in walrus ivory, stone and bone, which remains remarkably consistent through some two hundred centuries and across the great Arctic wastes, reflects the character and strength of the Eskimo hunting bands who inhabit one of the most inhospitable environments in the world. This book aims to relate the life style of the hunters, their vivid mythology, and the crucial role of the shaman in whom the human and spirit worlds meet, to their carving. About the author Susan Pearce read History at Somerville College, Oxford. She became Curator of Antiquities at Exeter City Museum which possesses important collections of Eskimo material. In 1975 She was awarded a Churchill Travelling Fellowship which enabled her to spend the summer in the Central Arctic carrying out research on the Exeter material which resulted in the exhibition Towards the Pole: the Eskimo and its accompanying publication. Professor Pearce is now Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Leicester University.