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Artworks
SYOLLIE (SAROLLIE) WEETALUKTUK (1906-1962) m., INUKJUAK (PORT HARRISON)
Bust of a Young Woman with Plaited Hair, c. 1960stone, 10 x 7.5 x 7 in (25.4 x 19.1 x 17.8 cm)
inscribed with disc number and signed, "E91745 / SAROLLI / WEETALUKTUK".
LOT 87
ESTIMATE: $1,000 — $1,500Further images
Syollie Weetaluktuk succeeded his father as the leader of the Kangirqsukallaq camp, about forty kilometers south of Inukjuak. When one encounters his work it is easy to understand why Syollie...Syollie Weetaluktuk succeeded his father as the leader of the Kangirqsukallaq camp, about forty kilometers south of Inukjuak. When one encounters his work it is easy to understand why Syollie was scouted by James Houston as a talent already in 1949; he went on to become one of the most important Inukjuak artists of the 1950s.
It is the exceptional attention given to individual details — the way in which her centre parted hair falls behind her rather large ears and is styled in to two tightly wound braids; her gentle laugh lines exquisitely rendered to spread broadly crossing her cheeks; her slender nose, hooked slightly upward — which bring his simple, elegant compositions to life. Although portraiture, proper, was uncommon in Inuit art at this period, we cannot help but speculate that the distinct physiognomy of this young woman must be someone that the artist knew intimately, perhaps a wife or a daughter.
Literature: For other examples by and biographical information on the artist, see Darlene Wight, Early Masters (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2006), p. 63-4. For a quite similar portrait head from 1960 attributed to fellow Inukjuak artist Samson Sala see The Eskimo Art Collection of the Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto, 1972), cat. 41.Provenance
Private Collection, Ontario;
Estate of the above.
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