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Artworks
OSUITOK IPEELEE, R.C.A. (1922 or 1923-2005) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET
Walking Caribou, c. 1987-88stone and antler, 23.75 x 21.25 x 6.5 in (60.3 x 54 x 16.5 cm), measurements reflect dimensions with inset antlers
signed and inscribed, "ᐅᓱᐃᑐ ᐄᐱᓕ ᑭᒐᐃ (Kinngait)".
LOT 27
ESTIMATE: $40,000 — $60,000
PRICE REALIZED: $55,200.00Further images
This stunning sculpture is just about as close to perfection as Osuitok ever achieved in his long career. Walking Caribou is supremely elegant in its design, extraordinarily graceful in its...This stunning sculpture is just about as close to perfection as Osuitok ever achieved in his long career. Walking Caribou is supremely elegant in its design, extraordinarily graceful in its pose, and flawless in its execution. Osuitok is considered by many to be the greatest Inuit sculptor of all time, and a work like this one makes it difficult to argue against the proposition. It is important to make the point that this masterpiece is not an anatomically perfect rendition of the animal. Osuitok’s vision – his genius – was his ability to idealize his caribou subjects through stylization. The animal’s forms are simplified here, attenuated there, exaggerated here and there, to create the artist’s vision of the perfect caribou. With Walking Caribou in particular, nothing seems out of place or awkward; it really is perfection. The greatest artists are magicians too, and so Osuitok was able to imbue this sculpture with the spark of life as well. Wow.
References: Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1998), fig. 57 (Sarick, AGO from 1988); Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum (Phoenix: Heard Museum/Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2006), fig. 58; Ken Mantel, Tuvaq: Inuit Art and the Modern World (Bristol, U.K.: Sansom and Company, 2010), fig. 211; Loveland Museum Gallery, Survival: Inuit Art(Loveland, CO: Loveland Museum Gallery, 2004), p. 125 (Wagonfeld Collection); offered in Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2017, Lot 73. For a discussion of Osuitok’s life and work see Jean Blodgett, “Osuitok Ipeelee” in Alma Houston, ed., Inuit Art: An Anthology (Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer, 1988), pp. 42-55. For other examples of similarly posed caribou at auction see Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2018, Lot 119; November 2017, Lot 92; and November 2015, Lot 251.Provenance
Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver;
Private Collection, USA.
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