This domestic scene typifies both the detailed artistic style and the primary preoccupation of the elder artist Ennutsiak. It presents a “snapshot” of traditional life on the land though created at a time of immense social and economic upheaval in the Canadian Arctic. Living at Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit) and selling many works to American servicemen and people constructing NORAD’s DEW Line at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, Ennutsiak witnessed first-hand the impact of qallunaat culture on the patterns of Inuit life. In detailed tableaux, however, the artist created intimate scenes to illustrate the “old ways,” perhaps unaware of the service this would provide to future generations. This engaging sculpture shows a family at mealtime outside their summer skin tent. Realistic details abound, from the patterning of the tent and clothing to the addition of ivory for the tent poles and traditional implements.

References: For important works by the artist see these First Arts auction catalogues: 28 May 2019, Lot 40; 14 June 2022, Lot 8; 5 December 2022, Lots 77 and 134. See also Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), p. 83; Bernadette Driscoll, Baffin Island, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1983), cats. 30-33; Bernadette Driscoll, The Inuit Amautik: I Like my Hood to be Full, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1980), cat. 20, p. 62; Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Mulders’ Collection, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1976), cat. 85; Maria von Finckenstein ed., Celebrating Inuit Art 1948-1970, (Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), p. 131-133; George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 45, p. 26.