JOHN PANGNARK (1920-1980) ARVIAT (ESKIMO POINT)

stone, 2.75 x 3.5 x 1 in (7 x 8.9 x 2.5 cm)
signed, "ᐸᓇ".

Born in 1920 at Windy Lake some 300 miles west of Arviat, Pangnark came to maturity in the semi-nomadic, traditional Inuit way of life, before settling in Arviat in the 1950s. He began to carve in the 1960s and quickly became celebrated for the distinctive, minimalist style in his representations of the solitary human figure — a theme that he approached with boundless variation. With its streamlined form and broad planes restricted to essential features only, "Figure" from the early 1970s — at just 3.5 inches as its largest dimension— has the simplicity and purity redolent of some of the finest large scale works by the artist.