We know of only one other work by Tiktak depicting a figure holding a bowl or dish: Woman with Bowl from 1963 in the TD Bank Collection, a seated figure dating from about five years earlier. Aside from the fact that the two works are rather similar in subject matter and equally enigmatic in both form and meaning, they could hardly be more different in style. The earlier figure, elegant and almost Henry-Moore like in its style and pose, might be serving or offering food. Standing Figure with Vessel, on the other hand, is rugged and stark; it is perhaps Tiktak’s most roughly hewn sculpture. We don’t know if this standing figure is making an offering or begging. Interestingly, Standing Figure with Vessel does visually echo the earlier work, but both works play visual tricks with the viewer. In the early work, the woman’s arms are at her sides so that the bowl floats in front of her; in this later sculpture, the figure’s arms and hands actually form the vessel shape.

Despite the overall ruggedness of this sculpture’s form, it possesses one of the most beautifully expressive faces that Tiktak ever created. Given the overall proportions of the figure, is it possible that it depicts a child, or a physically diminished elder? This sculpture is an eloquent reminder of the fact that Tiktak’s art is profoundly moving not only because of its forms but also because of its sense of humanity.

References: Tiktak’s Woman with Bowl from 1963 is widely published, including in Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture/Inuit (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), fig. 243; George Swinton, Tiktak: Sculptor from Rankin Inlet, N.W.T. (Winnipeg: Gallery One-One-One, University of Manitoba, 1970), cat. 7 (this catalogue is a must-see for admirers of the artist); George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 73 (along with many other images by the artist), and elsewhere. See Seated Man from 1963-64 in Driscoll, Rankin Inlet / Kangirlliniq (Winnipeg: Winnipeg: Art Gallery, 1981), cat. 37 (along with many other images by the artist). For other great works by Tiktak see this catalogue Lots 23 and 87; First Arts Auctions, December 2020, Lots 16 and 110; First Arts, July 2020, Lot 18; First Arts, May 2019, Lots 12 and 44.