Though not a shaman himself, Kiugak Ashoona found great influence in shamanic stories of spirits and transformation. Many of his relatives were shamans including his father Ashoona, his first father-in-law Kiakshuk, and his grandfather Namonai. They passed on such stories to a young Kiugak, who no doubt used them as inspiration in his artistic work spanning from the 1960s through to the 2000s. As Darlene Coward Wight confirms in the Winnipeg Art catalogue Kiugak Ashoona, the half-bird, half-human creatures Kiugak would often depict were inspired by the story of Natturalik (Golden Eagle) [1].

The story of Natturalik is recounted in the WAG catalogue as such, 

“A young woman [is] abducted by an eagle and taken to the bird’s nesting area on the top of a high cliff. The girl became the eagle’s wife, but she eventually escaped. She secretly saved the skin of animals the eagle brought to her for food and wove them into a long rope that enabled her to climb down the cliff to supposed safety” [2]. 

It is often told as the first half of the story of the sea goddess (known variously as Taleelayuk, Nuliajuk, or Sedna), where her Natturalik kidnapper is sometimes described as half-man, half-bird; or, a bird disguised as a promising male suitor only to reveal his true self once Sedna is whisked away from her family.

The character of Natturalik is rarely seen in Inuit art, but obviously struck a chord with Kiugak Ashoona. The artist depicted the subject and similar spirit birds around twenty times, with excellent examples in public collections such as Spirit Figure (1982) at the Art Gallery of Ontario; Bird Creature (Natturalik) (1990) at the National Gallery of Canada; and Natturalik (2007) at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (all illustrated in the 2010 WAG catalogue). For what is possible Kiugak’s earliest version (c. 1964), see Walker’s Auctions, Toronto, 4 November 2012, Lot 32.

Our example, Spirit Bird (Natturalik), is a highly important early version of the theme, and stands out as absolutely one of the most impressive. Although illustrated in a widely distributed “popular” publication on Inuit art, it has so far been overlooked as a crucial link in the series. One of the largest and most imposing examples ever made, and superbly carved by Kiugak in the gorgeous mottled green serpentinite that Cape Dorset was known for in the early-mid 1960s, the figure is clearly a classic depiction of Natturalik. The figure features a humanoid body and limbs, and the eagle-like head with pupil-less eyes seen in the 1964 version and shares the distinctive eyebrows of the 1982 example. Interestingly, its pose somewhat resembles that of the 1990 NGC version. While up to interpretation, its anthropomorphic stance with one hand to its head might represent the moment that Natturalik discovers that Sedna has escaped—dumbstruck with disbelief! All in all, Spirit Bird (Natturalik) is a rare, re-discovered masterpiece in the canon of Kiugak’s sculptural oeuvre.

1.  Wight, Kiugak Ashoona, 2010, p. 114.

2. Ibid, p. 116.

References: For a considerably smaller but contemporaneous and quite similar work by the artist (formerly in the Charles Gimpel Collection, London) see Walker’s Auctions, Toronto, 4 November 2012, Lot 32. For an example c. 1988-90 see Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, 18 May 2017, Lot 25. For related works by the artist see Marie Routledge and Darlene Coward Wight, Kiugak Ashoona: Stories and Imaginings from Cape Dorset, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2010). George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 876; Harold Seidelman & James Turner, The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 1993), fig. 36; Marion Scott Gallery, Inspiration, cat. 16; Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / New York: Harry Abrams / London: British Museum Press, 1998), fig. 68.