It is well known that Osuitok’s imagination was restless and wide-ranging. Although he revisited certain themes and styles throughout his long career, in his daily practice he preferred to change things up to stay fresh and creative. This sculpture is a fine example of the artist’s simplified, almost minimalist style, one which co-exists in his oeuvre with more highly detailed and naturalistic sculptures. The elegance of this abstracted form results in a visually poetic version of a hawk. Rather than being predatory, this hawk is graceful and full of personality and even humour. The smooth wings balance each other, one extending the line of the tail and the other echoing the simplified single foot. With its gesture and open beak, it almost feels as if the bird is telling us a story.

References: For a similarly stylized bird by the artist from the same period see First Arts, Lot 2. For other examples of animals from the time see Jean Blodgett, Grasp Tight the Old Ways: Selections from the Klamer Family Collection of Inuit Art, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1983), cats. 71 & 92, pp. 114-5.