Lot 61
NIVIAQSI (NIVIAKSIAK) (1908-1959) m., KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Printmaker: UNIDENTIFIED, KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
The Family Hunting / Family Caribou Hunting*, 1959
sealskin stencil (matrix), irregular: 11.25 x 14 in (28.6 x 35.6 cm)
*Title on label of known proof print
ESTIMATE: $7,000 — $10,000
PRICE REALIZED: $10,200
Provenance
Ex Collection of Mr. Gerald Moses;
Bequest to Ms. Barbara Mercer, Toronto;
Estate of the above.
Only one surviving print derived from this Family Hunting matrix is presently known to us; one or two additional proofs may have been printed [1]. The original by Niviaqsi (c. 1957-58) was drawn in graphite on a piece of cerlox-bound notepad paper [2]. The Family Hunting is a fully realized scene depicting a family of three, with two dogs, travelling with packs on the land in summer, drawn in Niviaqsi's typical "silhouette" style, a look that appears in most of Niviaqsi's 1959 prints. The image size of the drawing is within one or two millimetres of the skin matrix. The teal blue that surrounds the female figure at the top left contrasts nicely with the black of the other figures.
1. Proof print sold at Heffel Auctions, Jan. 2016.
2. Original graphite drawing sold at Walker's Auctions, Nov. 2017, Lot 16.
References: The print image derived from this sealskin stencil is illustrated in The Imperial Oil Review, October 1960 (Vol. 44, No. 5), p. 34 - minus the dog at lower right. For other drawings by the artist in a similar style see Gerald McMaster ed., Inuit Modern (AGO, 2010) pp. 72-73. For illustrations of Niviaqsi's 1959 prints see Christine Lalonde and Leslie Boyd Ryan, Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset 1959-2009 (Ottawa: NGC, 2009), cats. 22-30.