Hela Goetz/海拉·戈也兹

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

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 receivingrecognition and acclaim. As modern technology encroaches upon these formerly isolatedpeople, the prints have become a record of an earlier life style.

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。

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 materialsand being exposed to print-making techniques, their success is indeed phenomenal. Graphicimages 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 reproducingan image many times on paper was totally new. James Houston, then Northern AffairsAdministrator at Cape Dorset, and himself an artist, guided the Eskimo artists in their firstexperiment, 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。