The renowned George Tatanniq began making art in the early 1960s, carving mostly animals (muskoxen and birds). In the late sixties he began to concentrate more on human subjects; his crisply elegant “mature” style of the 1970s earned him a place in Norman Zepp’s 1986 Pure Vision exhibition and catalogue. Having reviewed Tatanniq’s depictions of human figures, we are revising the date for this outstanding sculpture to slightly earlier than was previously thought; we now suggest a date of c. 1968-69, which places the work contemporaneous with another important early Standing Woman by the artist formerly in the Robertson Collection (see Walker’s Auctions, Nov. 2011, Lot 90). While our Standing Woman is robustly carved, with relatively short arms, it already exhibits the elegance and grace of later human figures by Tatanniq from the early-mid 1970s. The woman leans slightly forward into an apparently strong wind, which causes her amautiq hood to billow dramatically. We also love the way that Tatanniq has framed the woman’s face, with her parted hair just peeking out from under her capacious hood. It’s a charming, delicate touch in a sculpture that in sculptural terms celebrates Inuit women’s strength and resilience.

Literature: For fine contemporaneous and similar works by Tatanniq see First Arts Auctions, May 2019, Lot 14; Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, Nov. 2011, Lot 90 (formerly in the Robertson Collection, Ottawa); Walker’s Auctions, Nov. 2013, Lot 29. For a selection of important works see the section on the artist in Norman Zepp, Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit (Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, 1986) pp. 120-129. For important human figures by Tatanniq see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (McClelland &Stewart, 1972/92) fig. 681; Gerald McMaster ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection (AGO, 2010) pp. 130-131.