DAVIDIALUK ALASUA AMITTU (1910-1976) PUVIRNITUQ (POVUNGNITUK)
unsigned;
inscribed with carving number, "227322" and accompanied by the original igloo tag.
LOT 84
ESTIMATE: $5,000 — $8,000
Further images
This work recalls the celebrated sculpture by Davidaluk, Inuk Delousing a Male Spirit from 1952, in the TD Bank Collection (see Swinton 1972/92, fig. 369 and elsewhere). Here, however, we can identify the spirit to which the man attends as Katjutajuk. With incised nipples on her cheeks and distinctive three three-toed feet, Katjutajuk is a subject that Davidialuk would revisit in his sculptural and graphic works multiple times over his lengthy career.
Though in his account of the female spirit in Eskimo Stories from Povungnituk (1969) Davidialuk insinuates that Katjutajuk is a mischievous and intrusive spirit, here she allows the man — perhaps a shaman — to pick through her hair without fuss. The man kneels before her, naked, his wide eyes cast downward in concentration. It is a charming and surprisingly intimate scene with a mood of private, self-contained interiority.
Literature: For similar works by Davidialuk see Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture/Inuit (Toronto: U of T Press, 1971), fig. 333, and George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 369. For Davidialuk’s account of the story of Katjutajuk, see: Zebedee Nungak & Eugene Arima, eds., Inuit Stories: Povungnituk (Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1969/1988), p. 73. See also Marybelle Myers ed., Davidialuk 1977, (Quebec: La Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau-Québec, 1977), unpaginated.
Provenance
Private Collection, Toronto.Join Our Mailing List
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.