Jessie Oonark’s conversion to Christianity in 1927 did little to stop her depictions of shamanism and the spirit world in her art. In fact, Flight of the Shaman, one of Oonark’s earliest prints, is one of the artist’s most overtly supernatural images. Here a shaman soars through the sky, accompanied by various animal helping spirits. These are arranged in interesting ways, most as if sewn like badges onto his parka while others are seemingly along for a ride. All illustrate the intimate relationship between the host and his helpers: birds line up along one arm and, significantly, one is perched on the shaman’s head (literally guiding him on his heavenly voyage), while wolves and caribou perhaps provide him with extra strength and courage. Subtle punches of red add pops of colour to a print that delivers a powerful graphic punch. For a different take on a shaman’s spirit flight by Oonark’s colleague the sculptor Luke Iksiktaaryuk, see Lot 17.

References: Oonark’s original drawing is illustrated in Jean Blodgett and Marie Bouchard, Jessie Oonark: A Retrospective, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1986), cat. 42, p. 114. The image is reproduced in Ernst Roch ed., Arts of the Eskimo: Prints, (Montreal/Toronto: Signum/Oxford, 1974), and in Jean Blodgett, Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1983), cat. 18, p. 57; also in Jean Blodgett, The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), cat. 60, p. 106