Although Niviaqsi (Niviaksiak or Niviaxie) began carving in 1951, likely encouraged by James Houston, his sculptural output was limited [1]. Only a small number of his works can be firmly documented, and even fewer have been published. Among these rare examples is Man with Bird in the collection of the Art Gallery of York University (A1971.072) [2].

When Cynthia Waye Cook wrote about Man with Bird for Eskimo Carvings and Prints from the Collection of York University, she described the artist’s ability to “manifest the inner feeling of [his] figures through their understated, almost geometrically pure forms.” She continues, “the dull glow of the smoothly finished surface, the gentle curves of the undifferentiated masses, and the fullness of volume all contribute to the feeling of gentleness and stasis that permeates this work.” Her description applies not only to that single sculpture but resonates with the present Kneeling Woman, where the same visual vocabulary of form conveys a comparable stillness.

The stylistic consistency across these two works is particularly clear in the faces. In both Man with Bird and Kneeling Woman, the eyes are shallowly incised almond-shaped ovals, cut with confidence and set high on the face. The mouths are broad and are marked by a single continuous groove. The noses take the form of straight, softly triangular ridges extending directly from the brow. Each of these decisions reflects an economy of detail that prioritizes planar clarity.

Beyond the faces, the figures share a sculptural language of compactness that can also be compared to the known work by the artist, Child with Ball, which is illustrated in Darlene Coward Wight’s Early Masters [3]. In all three works, the limbs are conceived of as rounded, tubular forms that fold gently into bodies conceived of as compact, almost architectural silhouettes. Rather than reaching outward, the figures seem to draw themselves inward, compressed into squat, self-contained forms. Their surfaces are smoothly abraded to an almost satin-like polish, which suppresses tool marks and heightens the senses of softness and fullness.

To catalogue the formal aspects of Kneeling Woman is one task, but it does not fully explain why the work feels so arresting. As with the strongest of Niviaqsi’s sculptural works, the force of Kneeling Woman comes not from grandeur but from intimacy. This woman does not impress through scale. Instead, in the artist’s restrained visual language, she draws the viewer inward, asking for close and careful looking.

1. This stands in contrast to the many attributions the artist has received in the art trade over the years.

2. This work is illustrated in Eskimo Carvings and Prints from the Collection of York University, Art Gallery of York University, exh. cat., 1971, no. 115 and in Cynthia Waye Cook, Inuit Sculpture In the Collection of the Art Gallery of York University, (North York, ON: Art Gallery of York University, 1988), cat. 6, p. 15.

3. Darlene Coward Wight, Early Masters: Inuit Sculpture 1949-1955, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2006), p. 170, G-95-15.

ND