SIMON POV (1917-1964) INUKJUAK (PORT HARRISON)
Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1959
stone, 3 x 2.75 x 2.5 in (7.6 x 7 x 6.3 cm)
signed and inscribed with disc number, "SIMON E9 1704".

Provenance
Private Collection, Montreal;
Walker’s Auctions, Nov. 2014, Lot 7;
Private Collection, Montreal.

Simon POV was not a prolific artist, but his works are carved with obvious care and true sensitivity. In our opinion his female portrait heads are his most compelling and beautiful works. We know of two larger examples: one from c. 1957 originally in the Robertson Collection; and a second from 1959 (see references). This smaller version, sensitively carved from a luscious dark green stone and lovingly polished, is strikingly beautiful and close in style to the 1959 example. The three sculptures are surely portraits of the same young woman with plaited hair, presumably the artist’s wife.

References: See a similar, larger example in George Swinton, Eskimo Sculpture, (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Ltd., 1965), p. 154. See also George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 286, p. 158 and Jean Blodgett, Selections from The John and Mary Robertson Collection of Inuit Sculpture, (Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1986), cat. 36, p. 57, also illustrated in Walker’s Auctions, Nov. 2011, Lot 6.