Four Muskoxen showcases that Osuitok could summon forth the same incredible display of stylized naturalism and unbounded invention found in his sculptures even while designing in two dimensions. This spectacular print displays a concern for structured symmetry and visual impact rather than narration. Here, there is a sense of poetic immutability. The dimensions of time and even space give way to an eternal present, where this processional group seems to belong to an ethereal court. The printmaker, Iyola Kingwatsiak, flawlessly repeats a single muskox-shaped stencil four times on the sheet, presenting the animals in an astonishing configuration, as if they were leaping lords in a ballet production. The almost iridescent brown ink of their furs is immaculately contained in the crisp outlines of the stencil.

While Osuitok did not contribute any drawings to Cape Dorset print catalogues following the 1959 collection, the muskox was clearly a subject that intrigued the artist. He had already contributed a muskox image (with its body and features exaggerated volumetrically to almost mythological proportions) for a 1958 experimental print (see Lot 7). Similarly, in a 1985 interview with Sharon van Raalte, Osuitok shared that the first carving he sold to James Houston was a muskox. We cannot help but lament the fact that Osuitok did not have the time or inclination to continue designing print images. On the other hand, this one amazing print, Four Muskoxen, is on its own an enormous contribution to Cape Dorset art.

References: Image reproduced in James A. Houston, Eskimo Prints, (Barre, MA, USA: Barre Publishers, 1967), p. 11; Jean Blodgett, “Osuitok Ipeelee” in Alma Houston ed., Inuit Art: An Anthology, (Winnipeg: Watson and Dwyer Publishing, 1988), p. 44; Leslie Boyd Ryan, Cape Dorset Prints: A Retrospective, (San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2007), p. 78; Christine Lalonde and Leslie Boyd Ryan, Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset 1959-2009, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009), cat. 9, p. 28; Norman Vorano, Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration, (Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2011), cat. 20, p. 78, and elsewhere. For Osuitok’s 1985 interview see Sharon van Raalte, Maata, trans., Interview with Osuitok Ipeelee, Kinngait, May 1985, Department of Northern and Indian Affairs Archive. For stone sculptures by the artist of a Muskox, see Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, The Permanent Collection (Montreal: CGCQ, 1980), fig. 114, which is likely the work referenced in Osuitok’s interview. According to Sandra Barz (5/96), James Houston says that the muskox image was basically used twice and repeated several times, whereby four were finally settled upon. May have been used as promotional reproduction.

*No printer chop, identification by Iyola.