Lot 87
HANNAH KIGUSIUQ (1931-) BAKER LAKE (QAMANI'TUAQ)
Community Gathering, mid 1970s
graphite drawing, 26 x 40 in (66 x 101.6 cm)
signed, "ᑭᑯᓯᐅ".
Estimate: $1,600— $2,400
Provenance
An Ottawa Private Collection;
Walker's Auctions, Nov. 2011, Lot 22;
Acquired from the Above by a Private Collection, Montreal.
In Marion Jackson's discussion of her "two generation" theory of Inuit graphic art, she singles out Kigusiuq as an exemplar of second generation artists "who give priority to presenting clear and accurate information in their drawings … Her careful line drawings provide highly detailed information about traditional Inuit life" [1]. Jackson contrasts this artistic concern with that of other second generation artists who focus more on aesthetic expression. One could hardly accuse Kigusiuq of lacking aesthetic concerns, however; her drawings are among Baker Lake's loveliest and most sensitively conceived creations.
The great majority of Hannah Kigusiuq's lively drawings are executed in graphite pencil, and in most, the figures are drawn in simple but delicately rendered outlines, with only hair and clothing trim details filled in. The artist's touch is deft, graceful, and quite masterful. Community Gathering is a wonderful evocation of traditional community life; it positively teems with charming vignettes of children, family, and friends interacting as, in all likelihood, they wait for a feast to begin.
1. "Contemporary Inuit Drawings: Reflections of an Art Historian" in Jackson and Nasby, p. 16 (see reference).
References: For a selection of other graphite drawings by the artist, see Marion Jackson and Judith Nasby, Contemporary Inuit Drawings (Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 1987), cats. 63-64; and Marion Jackson et al, Qamanittuaq: Where the River Widens (Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 1995), cats. 50-53. Of the two-dozen prints that are based on Kigusiuq's drawings, the one most resembling this drawing is Gathering for a Feast from 1978.