Niviaqsi was a brilliant artist, but the details of his life remain somewhat sketchy and enigmatic. The artist (once commonly known as Niviaksiak) began carving in 1951, no doubt with the encouragement of James Houston. Though never prolific, Niviaqsi was firmly established as an important sculptor by 1955, and as a talented graphic artist by 1959, the year of his untimely and mysterious death (see Lots 20 and 21). The mythology surrounding his life and death refer to him as a famous carver of bears but there are few if any published examples. As a carver of people, however, Niviaqsi produced both small and larger masterpieces. Highly refined works include a Standing Hunter (First Arts July 2020, Lot 22) and a small Mother and Child, both from c. 1955, and a stunning Mother and Child c. 1955-58 (see references).

This superb Mother with a Child on Her Shoulders dates from c. 1955, which makes it contemporaneous with two of the three fine works mentioned above. Almost as large as Standing Hunter, the work shares its forceful sculptural presence; and although considerably larger and bulkier than Mother and Child, it shares that carving’s feeling of delicacy. Carved from a hard black stone with simple tools, Mother with a Child on Her Shoulders superficially resembles several standing female figures of the period by talented Cape Dorset artists such as Qaqaq and Kiugak Ashoona, yet to us it stands out for the clarity and refinement of its sculptural form. It looks composed, not simply carved. We love how the sturdy figure of the mother carries the considerable weight of the boy seemingly without effort. The mother and her son appear anxious and expectant respectively, as if awaiting the arrival of their husband and father. Marvelous.

References: For another important sculpture by the artist see First Arts, Toronto, 12 July 2020, Lot 22. See also Walker’s Auctions, 18 November 2015, Lot 83, and 18 May 2017, Lot 26. For other examples of Niviaqsi's sculpture see Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture / Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), figs. 252, 342; Darlene Coward Wight, The Jerry Twomey Collection, (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2003) p. 52; George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: M&S, 1972/92), figs. 427, 430. For an early carving by the artist see Darlene Coward Wight, Early Masters: Inuit Sculpture 1949-1955, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2006), p. 170. Niviaqsi also created a small but remarkable body of drawings, some dozen of which were translated into early Cape Dorset prints (see Lots 20-21).