This superb and unusually large drawing dates from 1970, very early in Anguhadluq’s mature period, immediately after he was provided with coloured pencils and good quality drawing paper by Jack and Sheila Butler in 1970. Anguhadluq loved working with colour and used it expressively rather than naturalistically (except sometimes in the case of caribou, where patches of colour might represent the animals’ seasonal colour changes). We do not recall seeing a more accomplished drawing from this year. The caribou are extraordinarily lovely; the one clue to a dating of 1970 is the delineation of the figures of the hunters cutting up the animals. The overall composition is beautifully balanced as well; Anguhadluq’s style had evolved tremendously from what it had been just a year before.

The artist’s famous multiple perspective spatial representation is clearly in evidence (what some have called Anguhadluq’s “syncretistic” view of the world - the ability to see things in totality rather than linearly). Multiple temporal perspectives are probably at play as well; the migrating caribou, the gathering of five men, and the skinning of the caribou are not simultaneous events.

References: The best introduction to the art and life of Anguhadluq is, where prime examples of Anguhadluq’s original drawings are reproduced, is Cynthia Waye Cook, From the Centre: The Drawings of Luke Anguhadluq, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1993). For additional reading on the artist and illustrations of his work see: Jean Blodgett, "Luke Anguhadluq," in Tuu'luq / Anguhadluq: An exhibition of works by Marion Tuu'luq and Luke Anguhadluq of Baker Lake, (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1976); Charles H. Moore, "Anguhadluq's art: Memories of the Utkuhikhalingmiut" in Études/Inuit/Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Université Laval, 1978), pp. 3-21; Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / New York: Harry Abrams / London: British Museum Press, 1998), fig. 121; and Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), pp. 103, 168-169.