Less monumental than the two great sculptures by this artist offered in our auctions of July and December 2020, Mother and Child, Stretching a Kamik offers us a perhaps more intimate portrait of Johnny Inukpuk’s model and muse, his beloved wife Mary. In this period Inukpuk seemed almost obsessed with depicting Mary, with one or two children in tow, busily working at one chore or another – which is really rather sweet as obsessions go. We sometimes wonder if she might have actually posed for her husband! Mary seems particularly engrossed in this chore; her feet braced against the base of the stretcher, she leans back to exert maximum pressure as she pulls down on the boot. As always, her attention is focused on the task at hand rather than at the viewer.

As was his wont during this period, Inukpuk exaggerated the size of the woman’s head and hands – and even her ears! – while once again lavishing attention on Mary’s beautiful braids. As is typical with his best works of the early 1960s, Inukpuk formed the various large and small sculptural shapes of figure and clothing with clarity and strength. The overall composition is beautifully conceived, harmonious, and visually appealing from every angle.

References: For other important, contemporaneous masterpieces by the artist see Mother and Child, Scraping a Skin in First Arts Auctions, December 2020, Lot 65; Mother and Child, Carrying a Pail in First Arts Auctions, July 2020, Lot 24; Mother Feeding Child in the TD Bank Collection, illustrated in George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: M&S, 1972/92), fig. 55, in Christine Lalonde and Natalie Ribkoff, ItuKiagatta! Inuit Sculpture from the Collection of the TD Bank Financial Group (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2005), p. 45, and elsewhere; Man Wringing Sealskin Line, also in the TD Bank Collection, in Swinton (1972/92), fig. 292; Mother and Child, displayed at the Balshine Collection at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR), in Arctic Art Museum Ltd., Arctic Art Masterworks (Vancouver, 1998), unpaginated. See also Marion Scott Gallery, Inspiration: Four Decades of Sculpture by Canadian Inuit (Vancouver, 1995), cat. 1. For other important mothers and children by Inukpuk from the early-mid 1960s see Walker’s Auctions, May 2015, Lot 34, and May 2016, Lot 35. Darlene Coward Wight’s catalogue Early Masters: Inuit Sculpture 1949-1955 (WAG, 2006), pp. 83-87, illustrates several important early works by Inukpuk and discusses his early life and artistic career.