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Artworks
MARTHA ITTULUKA'NAAQ (1912-1981) BAKER LAKE (QAMANI’TUAQ)
Drum, 1969 (1970 #25)Printmaker: LUCY AMAROOK (1950-) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
stencil, 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
15/31LOT 134
ESTIMATE: $1,200 — $1,800
PRICE REALIZED: $976.00Further images
Martha Ittuluka'naaq expressed herself with a radical economy of line, developing a visual shorthand that is instantly recognizable. Many of her drawings of animals and people and most of her...Martha Ittuluka'naaq expressed herself with a radical economy of line, developing a visual shorthand that is instantly recognizable. Many of her drawings of animals and people and most of her eight prints are sparse in the extreme. She often drew and cut out little cardboard figures, outlining their shapes onto her drawing paper. Her two most famous prints, the present image Drum and Musk-oxen and Wolves are superb examples of this technique. Here Ittuluka’naaq brilliantly depicts the figures’ feet and hooves by simply not "finishing" their outlines. Probably the drum utilized a separate cardboard disc. The image is breathtakingly simple yet profoundly engaging and moving; it is truly magical, and highly abstract in the way that prehistoric cave paintings often are. (To our knowledge the artist never created appliqué works on cloth, which seems a shame.)
References: This print was included in the National Museum of Man international touring exhibition catalogue The Inuit Print (Ottawa: NMM, 1977) cat. 118. For three original drawings by the artist see Marion Jackson et al, Qamanittuaq: Where the River Widens (Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 1995), cats. 20-22. For more drawings see Feheley Fine Arts, The Butler Collection: Early Baker Lake Drawings (Toronto, 1999), pp. 52-61.
Provenance
Private Collection, Ontario;
A Toronto Collection