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Artworks
SILAS QIYUK (1933-2013) OR MIRIAM NANURLUQ QIYUK (1933-2016), QAMANI’TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Mother Bird with Nesting Fledglings , 1974stone, 3.75 x 8.75 x 6.5 in (9.5 x 22.2 x 16.5 cm)
signed, dated, and inscribed, "S QIYOK / 1974 / BAKER / LAKE / NWT."LOT 45
ESTIMATE: $900 — $1,200
PRICE REALIZED: $1,220.00Further images
Both Silas and his wife Miriam carved works commonly known as “Swimming Birds,” probably because they are invariably conceived in low, horizontal formats, some almost in bas-relief. Some examples may...Both Silas and his wife Miriam carved works commonly known as “Swimming Birds,” probably because they are invariably conceived in low, horizontal formats, some almost in bas-relief. Some examples may depict flying or nesting birds. Here Silas created a rustically carved sculpture with more heft, one that clearly shows chicks clustered in their nest. Any ambiguity is not thematic but conceptual and symbolic: the mother bird’s own body forms the nest; her raised wings wrap the chicks in a protective embrace.
References: For other fine examples by the artist see First Arts, 4 Dec. 2023, Lot 121; and Walker’s Auctions, 4 Nov. 2012, Lot 40. For a similar but smaller carving of birds by the artist from 1972 see Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), cat. 33, p. 35.
Provenance
Acquired at the Sanavik Co-op, Baker Lake by Stanley and Jean Zazelenchuk, NB, 1974.
Exhibitions
Winnipeg, MB, Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, August - November 1978, cat. 34, as Birds.Publications
Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), cat. 34, p. 35, as Birds.
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