While a case could be made for attributing this lovely lady to Niviaqsi (see First Arts, December 2023, Lot 9) we feel that a safer attribution would be to Qaqaq Ashoona (see First Arts, December 2023, Lot 108). As almost no early 1950s Kinngait sculptures are signed, attributions are a challenge, especially as there were so many gifted carvers almost from day one. Pedantic arguments aside, we simply love how this gorgeous sculpture exudes personality and grace. There is a delicacy and winsomeness that suggests that this is a portrait of a girl or young woman. While the sculpture is not small, it is quite slender front-to-back and so can be easily held and caressed in one’s hands.

References: For important works by the artist from the 1950s see Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture / Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), cat. 330; Maria von Finckenstein ed., Celebrating Inuit Art 1948-1970, (Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), p. 109. For other 1950s examples see Cynthia Waye Cook, Inuit Sculpture In the Collection of the Art Gallery of York University, (North York, ON: Art Gallery of York University, 1988), cat. 2, p. 10, cats. 50-51, p. 63, ad cat. 54, p. 64. For a lovely Standing Woman Holding a Kamik see First Arts, 30 Nov. 2021, Lot 82; and First Arts, 4 Dec. 2023, Lot 108.