As part of the first generation of Qamani’tuaq’s master textile artists, Elizabeth Angrnaqquaq was one of a collective of women who translated the traditional skill of sewing skin clothing to the art of producing works of art on cloth. With wool as a canvas, Angrnaqquaq absolutely fills this stunning example with felt appliqué human and animal figures, and spectacular stitchery. Carefully laid feather stitches delineate fur, feathers, and the tundra, in some places acting as a subtle change in hue to the background felt, and in others a high contrast and visual texture. Jean Blodgett summed up this artist’s greatest works rather well, stating that “the richness of colour and embroidery stitching makes each of these wall hangings a unique visual delight" [1]. Angrnaqquaq’s daughter Annie Taipanak followed in her footsteps to produce masterpieces of her own [2].

1. Blodgett, In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun, 2007, p. 14.

2. See First Arts, 12 June 2023, Lot 48.

References: See Upstairs Gallery, Elizabeth Angrnaqquaq Wall Hangings, May 1988 (Winnipeg: Upstairs Gallery, 1988), exhibition brochure with twenty-five illustrations. For more about works on cloth from Qamani’tuaq (including the technical aspects of stitchery) see Katharine W. Fernstrom and Anita E. Jones, Northern Lights: Inuit Textile Art from the Canadian Arctic, (Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1994). For another example of the artist’s work, see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / New York: Harry Abrams / London: British Museum Press, 1998), pl. 143, p. 177; and Robert Kardosh, Vision and Form: The Norman Zepp - Judith Varga Collection of Inuit Art, exh.cat., (Vancouver: Marion Scott Gallery, 2003), cat. 46, p. 63. For a look into wall hangings as conveyors of traditional knowledge, see Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, “Threading Memories” in Inuit Art Quarterly, (Spring 2020, Vol. 33, No. 1), pg. 30-39. For a similarly styled work by the artist from 1981 in the Winnipeg Art Gallery Collection see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / New York: Harry Abrams / London: British Museum Press, 1998), pl. 143, p. 177