This stunning drawing by Oonark was probably created in the latter part of her most productive period, c. 1976-78. Its essentially symmetrical composition is dominated by two brilliantly drawn figures against the paler coloured ground: a splendidly attired man and woman. Arranged between them are a similarly clothed small figure (probably a male child) and a pair of faces that are markedly different in appearance. Uncoloured, they are almost ghost-like, suggesting to us that they are spirits. We wonder if they act as interlocutors or “go-betweens” between the man and woman. They lend an enigmatic quality to what otherwise might have been a straightforward portrayal of a family. We are reminded of a 1980 (#29) print by Oonark titled The Loving Couple, where double figures similarly stand between the man and woman.

Oonark’s abiding interest in clothing design shines through in this spectacular image. She had seen and was knowledgeable about clothing patterns from several different regions. In this drawing the designs appear to be Copper Inuit style, where the woman’s parka is short-waisted at front and both men’s and women’s parkas have a rear tail. Oonark would have encountered these designs in her travels along the Arctic coast west of Chantrey Inlet.

Jessie Oonark made her very first drawing in 1958 or 1959 after seeing those made by school children in Baker Lake (see First Arts Auction, Dec. 2020, Lot 52); soon after she was encouraged by Dr. Andrew Macpherson, a visiting biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service. She made mostly clothing and works on cloth in the early to mid 1960s, then began drawing again until around 1967. Her artistic career took off in 1969 after the arrival of arts advisors Jack and Sheila Butler, after which time she created her now famous drawings and works on cloth for another ten years.

References: For two similarly styled drawings by the artist see Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), pp. 162-163. For a c. 1970 work on cloth with similar imagery see Jean Blodgett and Marie Bouchard, Jessie Oonark: A Retrospective, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1986), cat. 41, p. 114.