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Artworks
MARION TUU'LUQ, R.C.A. (1910-2002) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Untitled Work on Cloth (Community Gathering with Strength Game at Centre), mid-1970smelton cloth, felt, embroidery floss, and cotton thread, 25 x 29.5 in (63.5 x 74.9 cm)
signed, "ᑐᓗ".LOT 33
ESTIMATE: $15,000 — $25,000Further images
In this vibrant textile by Marion Tuu’luq, communal life takes centre stage. Figures cluster, interact, and compete, capturing not only a moment of play but the everyday bonds of togetherness...In this vibrant textile by Marion Tuu’luq, communal life takes centre stage. Figures cluster, interact, and compete, capturing not only a moment of play but the everyday bonds of togetherness and shared tradition.At the work’s centre, two figures engage in nusuura, a traditional Inuit pulling game of strength and will. The players are seated face-to-face, each gripping the aksalak, a short loop or strap held between their hands, which is central to the game. The players brace their feet and lean back, straining against one another in a contest of willpower, grip, and stamina.
Surrounding the players are other members of the community, their forms and postures varied. Many move about, while others sit or crouch, creating a dynamic rhythm across the scene. This shifting orientation guides the eye in multiple directions, lending the work a pulsating energy despite its flat structure.
The stitch work for all the figures is confident and deliberate. Blanket stitches outline each one, securely attaching them to the backing while also giving them definition. Details such as facial features, hair, mittens, boots, and hems are rendered with small linear embroidery stitches. The clothing of the figures is cut from felt and hand-stitched onto the background in alternating tones, each with stitched embellishments in complementary hues: ivory with red and deep purple; burgundy with white and red; fuchsia pink with purple and white; and the lone figure in purple with white.
The deep green ground is densely patterned with alternating rows of herringbone embroidery in white and pink variegated thread, while an alternating yellow and pink crossed whipstitch edging frames the composition and enriches its surface texture.
ND
References: For more information and other works by the artist see Jean Blodgett, Tuu'luq / Anguhadluq: An Exhibition of Works by Marion Tuu'luq and Luke Anguhadluq of Baker Lake, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1976), cat. 33 (as Birds and Men); Marie Bouchard and Marie Routledge, Marion Tuu’luq, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2002); Katharine W. Fernstrom and Anita E. Jones, Northern Lights: Inuit Textile Art from the Canadian Arctic, (Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1994).Provenance
Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, BC;
Acquired by the above by John and Joyce Price, Seattle.
Publications
Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Keewatin 2000, (Vancouver: Spirit Wrestler Gallery, 2000), BA 4, unpaginated.
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