NIVIAQSI (NIVIAKSIAK) (1908-1959) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Snow House Builders, 1959 #6
PRINTMAKER: Possibly NIVIAQSI (NIVIAKSIAK) (1908-1959) or OSUITOK IPEELEE, R.C.A. (1923-2005) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
stonecut (or linocut?), 12 x 12 in (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
9/30

Provenance
A Private Collection;
Waddington’s, Toronto, April 2012, Lot 185;
Acquired from the above by John and Joyce Price, Seattle.

As mentioned in the previous Lot 20, the figures in Snow House Builders are busily working to build a shelter and organize their camp, tasks that must be completed before day’s end. As we can see, the scene is as carefully composed as the two hunters are efficient and methodical. In this print we particularly love the contrast between the sled dogs who are obviously relaxing in the foreground after a hard day’s run while their masters busily set up camp for the night.

Two changes have been made from Niviaqsi’s original drawing. The first is the printer’s decision to colour the snow house in the classic early period blue; the second is the decision to omit the qamutik traces (which had been drawn with great delicacy by the artist) and to move the dogs slightly to the right to rebalance the composition.

References: For all Niviaqsi prints issued in 1959 see Christine Lalonde and Leslie Boyd Ryan, Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset 1959/2009, (National Gallery of Canada, 2009) pp. 33-35. For original drawings by the artist see Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), pp. 72-73, and Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, 22 November 2017, Lots 16-17.