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Artworks
LATCHOLASSIE AKESUK (1919-2000) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Owl, c. early-mid 1960sstone, 5.5 x 5 x 2.25 in (14 x 12.7 x 5.7 cm)
unsigned.Lot 80
ESTIMATE: $3,000 — $5,000
PRICE REALIZED: $3,600.00Further images
It is safe to say that Latcholassie Akesuk, one of the most beloved Cape Dorset sculptors, learned by being “apprenticed” to his father Tudlik, who was deservedly famous for his...It is safe to say that Latcholassie Akesuk, one of the most beloved Cape Dorset sculptors, learned by being “apprenticed” to his father Tudlik, who was deservedly famous for his charming depictions of owls. [1] Latcholassie began carving in earnest just as Tudlik began losing his eyesight in the early 1960s. His early carvings, small and carved with minimal features, were clearly influenced by his father, but this fabulous little sculpture already shows the hallmarks of Latcholassie’s unique style. The human-like posture of Owl is imbued with personality and even “attitude.” Its simple facial features are highly expressive, with the endearing and slightly guilty look of a child who’s been found with its hand in the cookie jar.
1. See Lot 3 this auction, and First Arts, 14 June 2022, Lot 11; Sculpture/Inuit (1971), cats. 196, 199, 204; and elsewhere.
References: For similarly styled, contemporaneous owls and owl-people by the artist see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), figs. 472-473, p. 188; Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture / Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), cats. 193 and 199. For a similarly styled work by Latcholassie’s father Tudlik (1890-1966) see Darlene Coward Wight, The Jerry Twomey Collection (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2003), p. 57. See also Feheley Fine Arts, The Ryan Collection (Toronto: Feheley Fine Arts, 1998), p. 34.
Provenance
An Ottawa Collection.
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