Before Evaluardjuk specialized in carving bears and other wildlife subjects in the 1970s his subject matter was quite varied. After his move to Iqaluit in the early 1960s following TB treatment in the South, Evaluardjuk created a number of large impressive figures as well as several imposing human portrait busts (see references below). One example particularly relevant to this remarkable Fisherman is Fox Hunter with Dog (Walker’s Auctions, May 2018, Lot 94).

In our opinion, Fisherman is absolutely the most outstanding of Evaluardjuk’s sculptures of this period and style. It is large enough to be considered almost heroic in scale, yet it possesses a feeling of intimacy as well. Its dynamic sense of movement and vitality is countered by the profound humanity of the fisherman’s face. It’s a truly remarkable portrait - a self-portrait we are sure - of a man who is where he wants to be and loves what he’s doing. Evaluardjuk was tormented by personal demons for much of his life; he spent most of every year living on the land where we hope he found the peace he surely craved.

Literature: For a portrait head by the artist see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: M&S, 1972/92), fig. 530, or Maria von Finckenstein ed., Celebrating Inuit Art 1948-1970 (Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), p. 135. For the impressive contemporaneous Fox Hunter with Dog see Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2018, Lot 94. For three similarly styled mothers and children see Barbara Lipton, Arctic Vision: Art of the Canadian Inuit (Ottawa: Canadian Arctic Producers/Indian & Northern Affairs Canada, 1984 U.S. tour), p. 55; Eskimo Art Gallery, Henry Evaluardjuk (Montreal, 1987), p. 6; Waddington’s Auctions, Nov. 2008, Lot 219.