We at First Arts have had the privilege to offer several outstanding works by the great Johnny Inukpuk over the years. This lovely example reminds us of Mother and Child, Stretching a Kamik, dated to the early 1960s. [1] The present work was likely carved a year or two later, in the mid 1960s. Interestingly, it carries on virtually the same theme; here, Johnny’s beloved wife, Mary, is busily sewing or repairing a kamik. Her son (apparently now a couple of years older!) seems to be trying to hoist himself loose from the confines of his mother’s amautiq. He certainly seems old enough to manage by himself, but of course, that would present Mary with another set of challenges. As always, she seems completely engrossed in her task.

As ever, Inukpuk exaggerates the size of the woman’s head and hands. Mary’s beautiful braids are carefully executed, as are the fringes of her amautiq, which form a lovely serpentine rhythm around almost the whole perimeter of the sculpture. This is one of Inukpuk’s enduring trademarks: to give equal importance to the sculptural forms of both large and small details. The sensuous muscularity of these sculptural shapes adds visual interest as we move around the work.

1. See First Arts, 13 July 2021, Lot 53.

References: For important works by the artist see Mother and Child, Scraping a Skin in First Arts Auctions, December 2020, Lot 65; Mother and Child, Carrying a Pail in First Arts Auctions, July 2020, Lot 24; Mother Feeding Child in the TD Bank Collection, illustrated in George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 55, in Christine Lalonde and Natalie Ribkoff, ItuKiagatta! Inuit Sculpture from the Collection of the TD Bank Financial Group, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2005), p. 45, and elsewhere; Man Wringing Sealskin Line, also in the TD Bank Collection, in Swinton (1972/92), fig. 292; Mother and Child, displayed at the Balshine Collection at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR), in Arctic Art Museum Ltd., Arctic Art Masterworks, (Vancouver, 1998), unpaginated. See also Marion Scott Gallery, Inspiration: Four Decades of Sculpture by Canadian Inuit, (Vancouver, 1995), cat. 1. For other important mothers and children by Inukpuk from the early-mid 1960s see Walker’s Auctions, May 2015, Lot 34, and May 2016, Lot 35. Darlene Coward Wight’s catalogue Early Masters: Inuit Sculpture 1949-1955, (WAG, 2006), pp. 83-87, illustrates several important early works by Inukpuk and discusses his early life and artistic career.