Lot 88
Quantity of Publications on Inuit Prints
ESTIMATE: $70 — $100
PRICE REALIZED: $192
Lot Includes
Eskimo Graphic Art: Issued under the authority of the Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources, reprinted from Canadian Art Magazine, January 1960;
Eskimo Graphic Art / L'art graphique des Esquimaux, 1963, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative; printed by Mortimer Ltd., Ottawa, 1963] (two copies);
Eskimo Graphic Art / L'art graphique des Esquimaux, 1964-5, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative; printed by The Bryant Press Limited Toronto, 1965];
Eskimo Graphic Art / L'art graphique des Esquimaux, 1967, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, 1967?];
Eskimo Graphic Art / L'art graphique des Esquimaux, 1968, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, 1968?];
Cape Dorset Print Collection / Collections de gravures de Cape Dorset 1970, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, 1970?];
Cape Dorset [Print Collection] 1971, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, 1971?];
1973 Cape Dorset Prints / Estampes, [Cape Dorset: West-Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, 1973?];
Baker Lake 1897 Prints [Baker Lake: Sanavik Co-operative Association, 1987, distributed by Canadian Arctic Producers].
Provenance
Ex. Coll. Mr. Paul Duval, Toronto.
Mr. Paul Duval was a distinguished art critic, journalist, author, and friend of the Canadian art community. Recognized as an authority in Canadian art, Mr. Duval wrote publications on many of Canada's foremost artists, including, The Tangled Garden, the Art of J. E. H. MacDonald (1978), A. J. Casson, His Life & Works: A Tribute (1980), and Lawren Harris: Where the Universe Sings (2011). In addition to his writings on the Group of Seven, Mr. Duval championed lesser known artists, such as Ken Danby and Helen McNicoll and brought to them national recognition.
Robert and Signe McMichael purchased Lawren Harris's Montreal River at the suggestion of Mr. Duval. When the couple transformed their private residence into a public gallery in 1966, Mr. Duval wrote their first exhibition catalogue. As the years passed, Mr. Duval would continue to contribute to the McMichael's publications, including writings on the Inuit and First Nations artists and artworks in the collection.
A savvy and astute collector in his own right, in the 1970s, Mr. Duval loaned two works from his collection to the exhibition Sculpture/Inuit: Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, which travelled throughout North America before heading to Russia and Europe. In 1972/3, Mr. Duval penned the introduction for the Toronto Dominion Bank's travelling exhibition of their Inuit art collection. For his contribution to this publication, Mr. Duval wrote, "The Eskimos [sic] of Canada have created compelling sculptures for more than 2,000 years [...] It was not until the past quarter of a century that the almost miraculous flowering of Canadian Eskimo [sic] art as we know it today occurred."
This kind of accessible, insightful language was a hallmark of Mr. Duval's writing. Always coming out with beautiful phrases that would stop you in your tracks.