Having endured periodic starvation and forced relocations during the first half of her life, Elizabeth Nutaraaluk created works that are frequently haunting in their stark simplicity. Her most moving works offer a mixture of raw beauty and elemental form combined with an almost visceral emotional punch. This extraordinary sculpture delivers both in spades. Furthermore, it is perhaps unique in the artist’s oeuvre in its depiction of a semi-nude female figure nursing (rather than simply holding) her young child. The mother gazes upwards as if beseeching the heavens to grant her baby some milk. Nutaraaluk was fiercely devoted to her family and carved to support them until finally constrained by weakness and blindness in her old age.

References: Important examples of Nutaraaluk’s Mother and Child, compositions are illustrated in many publications. For a fine example in the Sarick Collection at the AGO, see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Douglas & McIntyre, 1998), fig. 104; also illustrated in Julian Spalding, The Best Art You've Never Seen: 101 Hidden Treasures from Around the World, (London: Rough Guides, 2010), p. 191. See Marion Scott Gallery, Vision and Form, (Vancouver, 2003), p. 122; and Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Classic Inuit (2005), cat. 30. For another see Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit, (Douglas & McIntyre/Heard Museum, 2006) cat. 39. For other fine stone sculptures by the artist see First Arts Auction, July 2020, Lots 41 and 59; 5 Dec. 2022, Lots 13 and 128; 4 Dec. 2023, Lot 69.