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Artworks
KIUGAK (KIAWAK) ASHOONA, O.C., R.C.A. (1933-2014) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Howling Transforming Spirit, 1963stone, 8.25 x 8 x 5.5 in (21 x 20.3 x 14 cm)
unsigned.
LOT 21
ESTIMATE: $25,000 — $35,000
PRICE REALIZED: $120,000.00Further images
Howling Transforming Spirit is undoubtedly one of Kiugak Ashoona’s greatest masterpieces. Chronologically it is situated between two other masterworks by the artist, Howling Spirit (Tornrak) and Its Young from 1962,...Howling Transforming Spirit is undoubtedly one of Kiugak Ashoona’s greatest masterpieces.
Chronologically it is situated between two other masterworks by the artist, Howling Spirit (Tornrak) and Its Young from 1962, and the Untitled (Spirits) from 1964 in the MMFA collection. Arguably these three works constitute the epitome of the Cape Dorset “spirit sculpture” style from one of the most fertile periods of Kinngait art: the early 1960s. Howling Transforming Spirit is both meticulously carved and visually compelling. It is difficult not to be transfixed by the figure’s astonishing double visage. The bestial but relatively placid lower face has a decidedly gargoyle-like appearance; both it and the ferociously snarling upper face were probably inspired by carvings the artist saw adorning the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa in 1959 (he went on to create at least three carvings of lions over the years) [1]. Kiugak has brilliantly incorporated this “borrowed” imagery to create one of the most powerful spirit images we have ever seen.
Kiugak Ashoona (still often referred to as Kiawak), was one of Pitseolak’s artistically gifted children, and made his first carving in 1947 at the age of fourteen. He believed himself to have been the first carver to sell a work to James Houston upon his arrival in Cape Dorset in 1951. Kiugak remained active as a carver his entire life and is considered by many to have been Osuitok Ipeelee’s chief rival as a Cape Dorset stone sculptor. Much of Kiugak’s work is inspired by stories of shamanism. The father of his first wife Punisti was Kiakshuk, a renowned artist and, locally, an even more renowned and powerful shaman. Kiugak recounted:
Kiakshuk would tell stories about what he saw. He was very excited when wolves ate him down to his bones. He knew all the ways the wolves would eat him. Sometimes I would wake up at night and hear when the wolves were eating him. Sometimes my mother would hear it too. He was the most powerful shaman of all the Inuit. He was a very good shaman [2].Darlene Wight notes that Kiugak’s “spirit” sculptures often have partial human bodies, so it could be argued that some of them represent transforming shamans [3]. The body of Howling Transforming Spirit certainly has human attributes, although its limbs are strongly contorted. Kiugak’s best known sculpture of this type is Howling Spirit (Tornrak) and Its Young from 1962, largely because it graced the cover of the famous 1971 Sculpture/Inuit exhibition catalogue cover. After many years, the work was exhibited again, this time in the 2010 Winnipeg Art Gallery solo exhibition catalogue Kiugak Ashoona. Other contemporaneous and notable spirit sculptures by Kiugak are an untitled work in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts collection, and the Bird and Animal Head Cluster in the Sarick Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. These latter two sculptures are probably the closest stylistically and thematically to Howling Transforming Spirit (see references).
1. Darlene Wight, Kiugak Ashoona, (WAG solo exhibition catalogue, 2010), p. 18-19.2. Ibid. p. 13. An excerpt from artist interviews conducted by Darlene Wight in 2008.
3. Ibid., p. 11.
References: Howling Spirit (Tornrak) and Its Young is illustrated in Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), fig. 344 and front cover, as well as in Darlene Coward Wight, Kiugak Ashoona: Stories and Imaginings from Cape Dorset, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2010), p. 77. The WAG catalogue also illustrates other thematically related works on pp. 69, 83, 85. See also George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972, revised 1992), fig. 481; and Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), p. 140.
Provenance
Ex. Collection of Mr. Paul Duval, Toronto.
Mr. Paul Duval was a distinguished art critic, journalist, author, and friend of the Canadian art community. Recognized as an authority in Canadian art, Mr. Duval wrote publications on many of Canada's foremost artists, including, The Tangled Garden, the Art of J. E. H. MacDonald (1978), A. J. Casson, His Life & Works: A Tribute (1980), and Lawren Harris: Where the Universe Sings (2011).
When Robert and Signe McMichael transformed their private residence into a public gallery in 1966, Mr. Duval wrote their first exhibition catalogue. As the years passed, Mr. Duval would continue to contribute to the McMichael's publications, including writings on the Inuit and First Nations artists and artworks in the collection.
A savvy and astute collector in his own right, in the 1970s, Mr. Duval loaned two works from his collection to the exhibition Sculpture/Inuit: Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, which travelled throughout North America before heading to Russia and Europe. In 1972/3, Mr. Duval penned the introduction for the Toronto Dominion Bank's travelling exhibition of their Inuit art collection. For his contribution to this publication, Mr. Duval wrote, "The Eskimos [sic] of Canada have created compelling sculptures for more than 2,000 years [...] It was not until the past quarter of a century that the almost miraculous flowering of Canadian Eskimo [sic] art as we know it today occurred." This kind of accessible, insightful language was a hallmark of Mr. Duval's writing. Always coming out with beautiful phrases that would stop you in your tracks
Literature
George Swinton, Sculpture of Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972, revised 1992), figs. 31 and 482.
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