Esquimau Eskimo Eskimo

LARGE PORTRAIT OF A YUPIK WOMAN, BEAUTIFULLY CHROMOLITHOGRAPHED

Chromo-lithographed wall chart on white coated poster-board measuring 885 by 620mm. Four metal eyelets for hanging at top edge. Chipped at two corners and a few minor marginal scuffs, a 120mm split coming in form left hand edge, repaired on verso with tape, (subtle and affecting background only), otherwise very good. Zurich, Art Institut Orell Füssli,

Produced as a visual teaching aid for geography, anthropology and ethnography classrooms or museums, this beautifully chromolithographed wall chart is no. 7 in a series of 24 depictions of people of the world. This example is a head and shoulders face on portrait of a Yupik woman, wearing traditional fur parka with trim, and with thin line tattoos to her lower face, her braided hair tucked within her hood. A striking and attractive image, after a photograph by the American naturalist and explorer Edward William Nelson (1855-1934). 

 

The series was produced under the name of Dr. Rudolf Martin (1864-1925), at the time the director of the Zurich Anthropological Institute. Though raised in Switzerland, Dr. Martin was German by birth, and during the First World War, was called to take the chair of anthropology at the University of Munich, a position he held until his death. A contemporary advertisement for these wall charts describes them as suited for classroom or museum use, and offers them in a small set of 8, or the full set of 24, for 35F or 80F respectively (plus postage).

 

The photograph was taken by American naturalist Edward William Nelson whilst travelling with the USRC Thomas Corwin, a revenue cutter captained by the charismatic 'Hell Roaring Mike' Healey. Dispatched to the Arctic waters in 1881 in search of the lost exploring vessel USS Jeanette, Nelson and small group of scientists including John Muir, joined the expedition in order to conduct research in the Arctic regions. Nelson's findings were published in several reports, including The Eskimo About Bering Strait (1900), where this photograph first appears, as a far inferior halftone reproduction of the image.

 

The picture is captioned in Nelson's report "Kinugumut Female", and it appears from the text that she is from the Central Alaskan Yupik people of the Kuskokwim - Yukon region. Related to but distinct from the Inuit and Inupiat people, the Yupik form part of the ethnological group formerly known by the single, now largely defunct and pejorative, term "Eskimo". 

Stock Code: 233063