Canadian Eskimo Lithographs

加拿大爱斯基摩人的石版画

Hela Goetz

海拉·戈也兹

Since the Eskimos of Cape Dorset began making prints in 1959, their graphics have continued to delight art lovers around the world. Interest has spread, not only in the south but to Arctic communities as well. Currently,four other Eskimo settlements are producing prints.

自从1959年多塞特角的爱斯基摩人开始创作版画以来，他们的作品一直为全世界的艺术爱好者所喜闻乐见。这种创作的兴趣已经不限于“南部”，而是遍及北极各个村落。现在，其他四个居住地的爱斯基摩人也在制作版画了。

Cape Dorset is probably the best known of the printmaking communities. For a dozen years, prints of consistently high quality have been produced; successful experiments with stencils, etchings and engravings have addedvariety and interest; individual artists are receiving recognition and acclaim. As modern technology encroaches upon these formerly isolated people, the prints have become a record of an earlier life style.

多塞特角可能是最有名的版画创作之乡了。多年来，这地方不断出有高质量的版画；不论蜡刻、蚀刻、雕刻，都是成果累累，作品丰富多彩，趣味横生；各路艺人都备受重视，为人赞许。现代技术逐渐渗入这些昔日与世隔绝的人们中间，这些版画也就成了他们早期生括方式的写照。

When one considers the limited means available to these artists, both in obtaining materials and being exposed to print-making techniques, their success is indeed phenomenal. Graphic images had been made by Eskimo artists prior to the advent of printmaking in the Arctic, usually in the form of incised figures and designs on ivory carvings, but the idea of reproducing an image many times on paper was totally new. James Houston, then Northern Affairs Administrator at Cape Dorset, and himself an artist, guided the Eskimo artists in their first experiment, and gradually a cooperative print shop was established.

想想这些艺术家工作受到多么大的限制——搞不到设备，不懂印刷技术，竟然能有如此成就，确实非同小可。爱斯基摩艺人在印刷术传到北极之前，就已有各种雕像之作，通常是把人物和图案雕刻在象牙上，但要在纸上多次复制同一图像，却是前所未闻。当时驻多塞特角的北部事务行政官詹姆斯·豪斯顿，本人就是一位艺术家，他指导爱斯基摩艺人初试其道，后来他们逐步建立起了一家合作性质的版画店。

Carving of the image on to a flat stone block was a natural step for artists accustomed to producing stone carvings; drawing the images to be repro-duced was more radical. Many of the women, who were far ouf flumbered as carvers by the men, took readily to the new medium, and soon drawingsfor possible translation into prints became a major artistic activity. People began to take a great interest in recording everyday activities on paper, realistically reproducing the animals and birds which were the objects of the hunt and played such a central role in their existence, and drawing images of the spirits and strange creatures which peopled their mythology. Economic aspects played an important part, too, in the development of this new medium of artistic expression. For a people entering a new phase of civilization, it became an absolute necessity to replace the older hunting economy with a new form of subsistence. The sale of carvings had, for thepast ten years, been an increasing source of income; the development of print-making techniques promised another means to survive economically.

把图像刻在平石板上，是制作石雕的艺术家习以为常的一个步骤：把图像描画下来，再复制出来，就非同寻常了。拿雕刻师来说，男人的数量本来远远超过妇女，但这时许多妇女也欣然从事这种新的工艺，于是描图制版很快成为一种主要的艺术活动。大家都开始热衷于把日常的活动记录在纸上：他们逼真地再现了各种飞禽走兽，这些都是猎物，在他们的生活中起着简直是核心的作用；他们还画出了许多精灵鬼怪的形象，这些又都是栖息在他们神话里的生灵。在这种新的艺术表现手段的发展过程中，经济方面也起了重要的作用。一个民族在进入文明的一个新阶段时，势必要用一种新的生存方式来取代旧的狩猎经济。在过去的十年中，出售雕刻品一直是增加收入的一个财源；发展制版工艺，提供了又一种赖以生存的经济手段。

The possibility of recording the old ways of life and the world of the spirits appealed especially to the older generation.

老一代人特别感兴趣的是如今可以把古老的生活方式和鬼怪世界记录下来了。

The recurring theme of monsters and spirits is not entirely the choice of theartists themselves. They have been encouraged to draw the old ways andto let their imagination run free in conjuring up spirits, as these subjects areintensely interesting to southerners. Still, the idea of these fantastic crea-tures is a very real part of the Eskimo's spiritual heritage, and they are asmuch a part of the old ways as was the nomadic existence in igloos andsHn tents.

精灵鬼怪的主题反复出现，并非完全出自艺术家本人的选择。。南方人”对这类题材极有兴趣，艺术家因而也受到鼓舞，情愿画。古老的方式”，任凭自己的想像力呼风唤雨，自由驰骋。不过，构思出这批稀奇古怪的生灵，正是爱斯基摩人精神生活中的一个极为真实的传统，它们构成了“古老的方式”的一个部分，犹如圆顶茅屋和兽皮帐篷体现了游牧生活一样。

Strange species of birds are another favourite subject of the Cape Dorsetartists.

千奇百怪的飞禽是多塞特角的艺术家所钟爱的又一个题材。

One of the marvellous things about carving and print maHng activities inthe Arctic is the number of artists who take part-from young children tothe very old.

在北极，从事雕刻和版画创作活动的艺术家，下自少年儿童，上至耄耋老人，其人数之众多，蔚为一大奇观。

The old ways are all but gone, but the community spirit remains, support-ing new ideas and welcoming new art forms without forgetting the heritageof the past.

“古老的方式”已经消失殆尽，但他们那种群体精神今犹长存，它不断支持新的思想，迎来新的艺术形式，而又保住往昔的传统，并不忘本。

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