LUKE ANOWTALIK (1932-2006) ARVIAT (ESKIMO POINT)
Father and Child, early 1980s
stone, 8 x 4.5 x 2.75 in (20.3 x 11.4 x 7 cm)
signed, "ᐊᓇᐅᑕᓕ".

Provenance
Private Collection, USA.

Anowtalik’s skill as a carver is evident in this small-scale and remarkably sophisticated work. The limbs of the two figures twist and intertwine to transmit a great sense of energy. The tumbling arms and legs, as well as the unusually high level of incutting present in the work, transform the immutable stone into bodies in motion. Anowtalik’s stone sculptures are usually more abstract; it is his wife Mary Ayaq often who more typically incorporates figures in motion in her works. Although the subject matter is open to interpretation, we are sure this work depicts a father playfully hoisting his young child. Father and Child has a delightful charm that we associate more with Anowtalik’s antler compositions.

References: For an important example in stone by the artist see First Arts Auction, Dec. 2020, Lot 128; for a similarly large example see Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2006), cat. 136. For the artist’s discussion on his carving, see Bernedette Driscoll, Eskimo Point / Arviat, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1982), p. 22, 24, and 26; cats. 5-9.