Standing Man is one of Tiktak’s most elegant single figures. Carved shortly after the magnificent and much published Mother and Child of 1966 (AGO Collection, see Hessel, 1998, p. 97; Zepp, 1996, p. 8, 98; and Sculpture/Inuit, 1971, cat. 281), this sculpture is not quite as impressively tall as that work but it has the slim proportions and stateliness. Likewise, it has the crisp, clean lines and contours that we associate with Tiktak’s work from the first half of the 1960s – later examples tend to be more robust and sometimes even crude in their execution and demeanour. Though on the one hand it lacks the finesse of small-scale masterpieces by the artist (see Mother and Child from 1965, Lot 58), Standing Man does have considerable sculptural presence.

It is obvious to us that Tiktak took considerable pains to work out every curve and hollow with precision, for the sculpture is well-proportioned from literally every vantage point. We find the slender arms, and the generous hollows carved between them and the man’s torso, to be especially elegant and refined. The artist took care to get the balance right as well, because this tall Standing Man is surprisingly steady on his unusually small feet and stands quite comfortably in his almost casual hands-in-pockets pose. His face, too, seems relaxed if not serene. This sculpture is a prime example of Tiktak’s artistry.

References: For a somewhat larger but similarly styled and proportioned Mother and Child by the artist see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / New York: Harry Abrams / London: British Museum Press, 1998), pl. 75, p. 97; Norman Zepp, Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit, (Regina: Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, 1986), cat. 44, pp. 8 and 98; George Swinton, Tiktak: Sculptor from Rankin Inlet, N.W.T., (Winnipeg: Gallery One-One-One, University of Manitoba, 1970), cat. 27; and Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture / Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), cat. 281. In Pure Vision see also cat. 49, p. 104. For a fine Standing Man by the artist from 1968 see First Arts, 14 June 2022, Lot 33. For another large standing figure of bulkier proportions see Maria von Finckenstein ed., Celebrating Inuit Art 1948-1970, (Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), p. 176. See also Christine Lalonde and Natalie Ribkoff, ItuKiagâtta! Inuit Sculpture from the Collection of the TD Bank Financial Group, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2005), pl. 13/cat. 42, p. 50; and Christine Lalonde, Sanaugavut: Inuit Art from the Canadian Arctic, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2010), cat. 25, p. 62. For smaller but similarly posed and contemporaneous works see George Swinton, Tiktak: Sculptor from Rankin Inlet, N.W.T., (Winnipeg: Gallery One-One-One, University of Manitoba, 1970), cats. 18 and 24. For an important Standing Man from 1968 see First Arts, June 14, 2022, Lot 33.