JOHN PANGNARK (1920-1980) ARVIAT (ESKIMO POINT)
Figure with Raised Arms, c. 1970-72
stone, 3 x 3 x 1.25 in (7.6 x 7.6 x 3.2 cm)
signed, "ᐸᓂᔭ".

Provenance
Collection of John and Joyce Price, Seattle.

John Pangnark is widely considered to be Inuit art’s most minimalist and abstract practitioner. However, Pangnark was also an avid experimenter; his style periodically moved back and forth between figurative and minimalist, and between geometric and free form. This lovely gem was carved not long after the artist’s most geometric and “realistic” phase in the late 1960s. Although decidedly abstract, it nonetheless clearly depicts a human with its arms raised, either in greeting or in joy. In its pose it reminds us of a slightly earlier work (c. 1968), similarly small and easily held in the palm of one’s hand (see First Arts, Toronto, 28 May 2019, Lot 31). The sculpture is wonderfully compact in form and beautifully composed, its round shape echoing the upward sweep of the figure’s arms. Of course, he did not - the marks of his tools are everywhere - but we can almost imagine Pangnark carving the work simply by removing sections of a small stone disc or pebble. Delightful.

References: Similarly posed works by Pangnark in George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), figs. 617, 621; Similarly posed work by the artist in Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), cat. 79; also reproduced in Norman Zepp, Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit, (Regina: Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, 1986), cat. 27.