As Darlene Wight notes in her Early Masters catalogue (p. 29), Akeeaktashuk was called Isakallak (“short and stocky Isa”) by local Inuit, and “Fatty” by resident qallunaat. James Houston used the Inuktitut name Akeeaktashuk, which translates as “feeling full.” This artist’s figures of hunters tend to be quite stocky in appearance, but there are certain distinctly rotund examples that make us wonder whether they are actual self-portraits.

This sculpture reminds us very much of a Hunter Pulling a Seal by the artist, a two-part composition that we suggested was almost certainly a self-portrait (see Walker’s Auctions, May 2014, Lot 78). The hunter’s plump proportions, the sense of exertion as he carries the extra weight of the seal, the facial features, and even the little flip at the tip of the parka hood, create a figure invested with personality. Aspects of Hunter Carrying a Captured Seal also resemble Akeeaktashuk’s contemporaneous Striding Hunter from (First Arts, July 2020, Lot 12). But, while Striding Hunter exudes confidence and purpose, Hunter Carrying a Captured Seal speaks more of weariness. Our hunter is no doubt happy with his catch, but he has to schlep it home before he and his family can enjoy the fruits of his labour.

References: For a contemporaneous Striding Hunter by the artist see First Arts Auction, July 2020, Lot 12. For a very similarly styled work by Akeeaktashuk (probably a self-portrait) see also Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2014, Lot 74. See the section on the artist in Darlene Coward Wight, Early Masters: Inuit Sculpture 1949-1955 (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2006), pp. 28-37.