The confidence and finesse with which this early masterpiece is imbued is matched only by the highly unusual addition of incised ornamentation of both front and back of the mother’s parka flaps and even her mittens. The interplay of the figure’s sculptural forms is remarkably sensitive and elegant; the shapes of the mother’s shoulders, rear pouch, and hood alone are breathtakingly lovely; the way the meticulously pleated skirt gently flares out beneath the amautiq flap is ever so graceful; the flap adornments are not simply engraved but are carved in extremely shallow bas-relief. This is surely the work of one of the great “early masters” of the Kinngait (Cape Dorset) area, but even with some tantalizing clues it may not be possible to identify the artist.

A photograph taken between 1942 and 1946 by the renowned Inuk historian, photographer, and artist Peter Pitseolak of his wife Aggeok and daughter Udluriak depicts the two women wearing inner amautiit decorated with beadwork and pennies. Udluriak is wearing a skirt, and both women wear wool mittens decorated with diamond-shaped Argyle designs (see photo references). It would be tempting to say that the carving must be by Peter Pitseolak himself, but while he was talented in many ways we’re not sure if he had the carving skills to create this sculpture. Must it then have been carved by someone who was intimately familiar with Pitseolak’s family or had seen the photo? In terms of talented suspects there are several possible candidates – Osuitok Ipeelee, Peesee Osuitok, Mannumi Shaqu, Qaqaq Ashoona for example – but we have not yet been able to make a clear stylistic connection. No matter – kudos to the sculptor, whoever you are. And if the artist is Peter Pitseolak, then please accept our apologies and our heartfelt thanks for your gift.

References: For the Peter Pitseolak photo of Aggeok and Udluriak see David Bellman, editor, Peter Pitseolak (1902-1973): Inuit Historian of Seekooseelak (Montreal: McCord Museum, 1980) p. 38. The photograph is also reproduced in Betty Kobayashi Issenman, Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997) p. 148. Issenman’s book also illustrates a Baffin “widow’s amautiq” collected in 1897, decorated with spoons, coins, lead, and brass as well as with beadwork, on pp. 72 and 148. This superb sculpture brings to mind another exceptional work: an unidentified Standing Mother and Child from Cape Dorset, offered at Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, November 2014, Lot 14. For a contemporaneous but much more naïve rendering of the same subject, in ivory, see Gerald McMaster, editor, Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), p. 66