Producer unknown to us
Model of an umiak (women’s boat)
Americas, Greenland
1850–1920
Animal skin, wood
Collection context unknown to us
Handed over to Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden from Naturkundemuseum Görlitz in 1959
52609 a-i
An umiak is a large open sealskin boat for several people. Because women accompanied their husbands while they were on seal hunts in kayaks, with the umiak being used to transport the catch, researchers have called it “women’s boat.” Built large enough to carry entire families and their possessions, the umiak was indispensable for a nomadic lifestyle. When traveling on land, the boat was often turned upside down and used as a sleeping tent.
Umiaks were used throughout the Arctic, with regional variations in construction depending on what they were to be used for. In Alaska, for example, the emphasis was their use in whaling. There, the boats were narrower and easier to maneuver than in eastern Canada and Greenland. They were larger, more massive boats, accommodating up to 30 people.
Models such as this were often made on site for museums and educational institutions in Europe around 1900.
This object came to Dresden from the Naturkundemuseum Görlitz in 1959 as part of the GDR museum profiling campaign. The museum in Görlitz wanted to give up its ethnographic exhibits, as they did not fit into its collection profile and, therefore, were rarely used in exhibitions.
Johanna Funke, Frank Usbeck