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Artworks
JESSIE OONARK, O.C., R.C.A (1906-1985) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Inuk Catching a Bird, 1981 #12Printmaker: MARTHA NOAH (1943-) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
stencil, 38 x 27.5 in (96.5 x 69.8 cm)
44/50LOT 20
ESTIMATE: $800 — $1,200In this large-scale print by Jessie Oonark, the stencil forms read with the blunt clarity of cut paper. Clothing is stated through silhouette rather than detail, yet it stays close...In this large-scale print by Jessie Oonark, the stencil forms read with the blunt clarity of cut paper. Clothing is stated through silhouette rather than detail, yet it stays close to the practical shapes of women’s dress in the Qamani'tuaq. The ample hood and long parka, with its extended tail, are carried as one continuous blue form. The back panel drops past the legs and ends in a narrow fringe of short, repeated cuts. The trousers are a single green block, cropped to mid-calf, set above grey kamiks with flat orange soles. A mitten becomes a rounded paddle, and the face, in Oonark’s characteristic profile, is kept sharp by one contour line and a carefully placed large eye.
The action is equally direct. One arm reaches out in a firm line to hold the bird close, while the other carries a hooked tool or a snare, angled for the catch. The bird is reduced to two clear colour fields, orange for the head and throat and grey for the body, so the viewer reads immediately what is being held and how.
This work is reproduced in Marie Bouchard, The Power of Thought: The Prints of Jessie Oonark, (Richmond, Virginia: University of Richmond Museums, 2001), cat. no. 25, reproduced p. 42Provenance
A Toronto Collection.Literature
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