-
Artworks
KIAKSHUK (1886-1966) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Woman Scraping Sealskin, 1961 (Dorset Series)Printmaker: IYOLA KINGWATSIAK (1933-2000) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
stonecut, 12 x 18.5 in (30.5 x 47 cm)
32/50LOT 58
ESTIMATE: $500 — $800Kiakshuk, the eldest hunter-turned-artist in Cape Dorset, occupies a unique space in the history of Inuit art. Though regarded as a powerful shaman, his work rarely lingered on the supernatural....Kiakshuk, the eldest hunter-turned-artist in Cape Dorset, occupies a unique space in the history of Inuit art. Though regarded as a powerful shaman, his work rarely lingered on the supernatural. Instead, his drawings carried the weight of lived experience, a kind of visual memory rendered in steady, deliberate lines. His younger cousin and fellow artist, Pitseolak Ashoona, recalled his work with reverence: “Because Kiakshuk was a very old man, he did real Eskimo drawings. He did it because he grew up that way, and I really liked the way he put the old Eskimo life on paper.”
Pitseolak saw in these works a preservation of culture, a subtle yet powerful stand against the erosion of time and change. Kiakshuk’s images draw from his early life on the land, each one reflecting the steady rhythms of camp life: scraping hides, making tools, and performing the daily acts of survival that shaped his world. In this work, a woman bends over a hide, her hands engaged in the familiar cycle of turning raw material into the clothing needed for life in the Arctic. It is an unremarkable task and yet monumental, a single moment in the everyday labour that sustained an entire way of life.Provenance
Collection of John and Joyce Price, Seattle.
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.