In the latter part of her career, Kenojuak Ashevak remained open to innovative materials and compositions. After the completion of the remarkable stained-glass window for Appleby College in Oakville, she embraced working with new techniques which gave her images a different style. Released in the year before the artist’s death, this striking stonecut print, Red Fox, similarly represents a compelling departure of style and subject matter. The startlingly bold figure of a bright red fox fills the picture plane, with only the almond-shaped eye, nose, and tip of the tail detailed in black. This is what Leslie Boyd has explained as an “example of reductive printmaking in stonecut, with the red body of the fox inked and printed first, then cut away leaving the outline to be inked and printed in black” (see Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection, 2012, p. 2). The print is one of several released in the 2012 collection where black outlines highlight Kenojuak’s whimsical subjects, signaling a unique stylistic change notable in this print collection. The artist’s drawings where black Fineliner was used to outline forms were translated quite faithfully into her prints at this time.

References: For A similarly coloured work, see Kenojuak Ashevak’s stonecut print The Woman Who Lives in the Sun (1960), First Arts, 28 May 2019, Lot 15 for an interesting connection between one of her earliest and latest prints. For more information on this famous artist see Jean Blodgett, Kenojuak, (Toronto: Firefly Books / Mintmark Press Ltd., 1985); Anna Hudson, ‎Jocelyn Piirainen, ‎& Georgiana Uhlyarik, Tunirrusiangit: Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitsiulak, exh. cat., (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2018); Odette Leroux ed., Inuit Women Artists, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994).