In our discussion of one of Tuu’luq’s greatest masterpieces, Crowd of People from 1974 (see First Arts, 14 June 2022, Lot 36), we observed that Tuu’luq’s style is decidedly painterly. We would like once again to note Marie Bouchard’s comments on Tuu’luq’s art: “In constructing her designs, she would engage in a wordless dialogue with her materials, playing with shape and colour, literally using the fabric pieces likes swaths of pigment and covering their surfaces with thick embroidery stitching as visually fine and dense as Georges Seurat’s pointillist brushstrokes.” [1] These comments ring especially true when looking at what is essentially a purely abstract creation, the present Abstract Work on Cloth.

Having produced a handful of little cloth “pictures” in the late 1960s, Tuu’luq created several beaded collars at the suggestion of arts adviser Sheila Butler in 1969-70. [2] Bouchard notes that when Butler began distributing larger pieces of material in 1971, Tuu’luq went on to create some “long thin bands of cloth covered with varied embroidery designs” but by 1972 was already creating the larger, more complex compositions for which she is known. [3] Two things become clear to us that are crucial to understanding Tuu’luq’s style. First, Abstract Work on Cloth was heavily influenced by the patterns of the beadwork pieces. Second, Tuu’luq’s abstract aesthetic developed almost immediately and influenced her style going forward, rather than developing over time as a sort of “distillation” of style. Works that are essentially abstract or contain abstract elements appear all through the artist’s career.

Very early, very rare, and highly important in the understanding of Tuu’luq’s oeuvre, Abstract Work on Cloth is also extraordinarily lovely. Its beauty derives from its pristine yet organic abstraction and from its physical attributes. It has the “handmade” quality but also the architectural brilliance of a Gee’s Bend quilt. Its slenderness is accentuated by the extreme narrowness of the felt appliqué strips; their subtle earth tones enriched by the varied tracery of the stitches. Glorious.

1. Marie Bouchard, “Negotiating a Third Space: The Works on Cloth of Marion Tuu’luq” in Marie Bouchard and Marie Routledge, Marion Tuu’luq, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada: 2002), p. 28.

2. See the National Gallery catalogue Marion Tuu’luq, cats. 1 and 2.

3. Marie Bouchard, op. cit., p. 28.