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Artworks
JOHN TIKTAK, R.C.A. (1916-1981) KANGIQLINIQ (RANKIN INLET)
Janus Head, c. 1975-76stone, 6 x 5.5 x 2.75 in (15.2 x 14 x 7 cm)
signed, "ᑎᑕ";
inscribed in an unknown hand in ink, "1978 /John Tiktak".Lot 119
ESTIMATE: $5,000 — $8,000
PRICE REALIZED: $7,200.00Further images
John Tiktak is deservedly famous for his superb figural sculptures: mothers and children, and single standing figures (see First Arts, 12 June 2023, Lot 58, and 14 June 2022, Lot...John Tiktak is deservedly famous for his superb figural sculptures: mothers and children, and single standing figures (see First Arts, 12 June 2023, Lot 58, and 14 June 2022, Lot 33 for two of several outstanding examples we have offered). Almost from the beginning, the figures’ expressive faces were often the focal points of these works. Tiktak began carving single heads in the mid 1960s, and multiple head works shortly thereafter; these became an important part of his repertoire (see First Arts, 5 Dec. 2022, Lot 127).
This remarkable Janus Head was carved near the end of Tiktak’s career in the mid 1970s (he almost never carved after the death of his wife Atangak c. 1975). By about 1970 Tiktak had begun using electric routers to create facial features. Consequently, many of these faces appear “gouged” rather than “carved” into the stone. Janus Head, although created from a hard stone and showing the marks of the router, is also shaped by hand with a high degree of sensitivity and is even polished to some extent. Rather than appearing brutal, the faces have a haunting quality and almost a fragility that belies the toughness of the stone. Perhaps they are portraits of Tiktak and his late wife.Provenance
Collection of Mr. Stanley and Mrs. Jean Zazelenchuk, New Brunswick.
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