MARION TUU'LUQ, R.C.A. (1910-2002) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Untitled Work on Cloth, c. 1975
wool stroud, felt, embroidery floss, and cotton thread, 40 x 8.5 in (101.6 x 21.6 cm)
unsigned.

Provenance
Estate of Jean Blodgett.

A member of the first generation of textile artists in Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), Marion Tuu’luq’s full body of sewn work is quite staggering (see Lot 24 for one of her great masterpieces). Many of her pieces have specific narratives or scenes, and her figures have a charming individuality to them. Reminiscent of a bell pull with its long, vertical shape, this work has a subtly symmetry that runs down the length of it. The clusters of heads are largely mirrored, and the odd spirit or creature breaks up the illusion of everyday life. The marvelous antlered fish that anchors the work’s lower edge features particularly finely stitched scales as further detail, while many of the other creatures rely on stark colour contrasts and stitched outlines. Featuring a minimal felt palette of a bold yellow, a deep blue, and a pale gray, the floating heads pop against the field of green. The expressions and smiles of these characters shine out, delightfully familiar to any regular viewer of Tuu’luq’s work. The original owner of this lovely work on cloth, the pioneering Inuit art curator Jean Blodgett, organized the first important exhibition of Tuu’luq’s art in her ground-breaking 1976 exhibition Tuu'luq / Anguhadluq at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

References: Marie Bouchard and Marie Routledge, Marion Tuu’luq, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2002), is an important catalogue and the definitive introduction to Tuu’luq’s life and textile art. See also Jean Blodgett, Tuu'luq / Anguhadluq: An Exhibition of Works by Marion Tuu'luq and Luke Anguhadluq of Baker Lake, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1976). See also Katharine W. Fernstrom and Anita E. Jones, Northern Lights: Inuit Textile Art from the Canadian Arctic, (Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1994), cats. 30-31 and p. 50.