BARNABUS ARNASUNGAAQ (1924-2017) Qamani’tuaq (BAKER LAKE)
unsigned.
Further images
Arnasungaaq is famous for his sculptures in stone, large and small, but we do know that he did create several antler miniatures c. 1969. The most famous example, an image of a shamanic initiate, is illustrated in George Swinton’s Sculpture of the Inuit (fig. 692) and elsewhere. Hunter with Spear is carved in more or less the same style, one that is more realistic and precisely executed than is typical of his robust stone sculptures. It’s a lovely rare work by the Baker Lake master.
Literature: For an antler image of a shamanic initiate see Jean Blodgett, The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), p. 44; also illustrated in see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: M&S, 1972/92), fig. 692; and in Darlene Coward Wight, The Faye and Bert Settler Collection (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2004), p. 58. For a very similar work to that one by the artist see Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2018, Lot 245.
Provenance
Private Collection, Winnipeg;
A Montreal Collection.