JANET KIGUSIUQ (1926-2005) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Arctic Landscape (River with Rapids), 2000
pencil crayon on paper, 22.5 x 30 in (57.1 x 76.2 cm), framed
signed, "E271 ᑭᒍᓯᐅ".

Provenance
Collection of John and Joyce Price, Seattle.

Exhibitions
Toronto, Feheley Fine Arts, Second Nature: Recent Works by Janet Kigusiuq, 23 November - 21 December, 2002, cat. 1.

Publications
This drawing was used as the front cover illustration for Dorothy Harley Eber’s book, Encounters on the Passage: Inuit Meet the Explorers, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008) as well as for the cover of Feheley Fine Arts, Second Nature: Recent Works by Janet Kigusiuq, (Toronto: Feheley Fine Arts, 2002) cat. 1.

The eldest daughter of Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq lived on the land for almost forty years before moving into Baker Lake permanently in 1965. Encouraged by her mother and her father-in-law Luke Anguhadluq, Kigusiuq first drew in 1968, and began submitting drawings to the print program not long after. Her early graphite drawings are narrative and quite complex, but gradually her style evolved to include fewer and larger figures, and more and richer colours. By the very late 1990s Kigusiuq was creating semi-abstract landscapes. In this stunning drawing, Arctic Landscape (River with Rapids), fields of abstract colour are arranged to evoke the hills, rivers, and tundra of the beloved Back River region of her youth. Much like the gorgeous works on cloth by her sister-in-law Ruth Qaulluaryuk (see Lot 68), Kigusiuq’s vibrant landscapes prove that the Arctic is alive with colour for a good part of the year; but Kigusiuq is interested more in the land itself rather than just its flora. Lovely greys mark cold bedrock, while vibrant greens, purples, and pinks mark the pop of foliage; oranges and yellow suggest the sandy soils found along the waterways, which themselves are described in rich blues. Lovely and varied textures further define the landscape of Kigusiuq’s memory and imagination.

References: Prime examples of Kigusiuq’s drawings from all periods of her career are reproduced in Cynthia Waye, The Urge to Abstraction: The graphic art of Janet Kigusiuq, (Toronto: Museum of Inuit Art, 2008), cats. 8-10, 21; Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / New York: Harry Abrams / London: British Museum Press, 1998), fig. 112; see Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), p. 172.