Lot 104
PETER INUKSHUK (1896-1975) QAMANI’TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Man Signalling Caribou Sighting, c. 1970
stone, 9 x 7 x 1.75 in (22.9 x 17.8 x 4.4 cm)
signed and inscribed in graphite to the accompanying tag, "ᐃᓄᓱ / ᓴᓇᔭᒐ [i made]".

Provenance
Collection of Mr Jack Butler, acquired directly from the artist.
Jack and Sheila Butler were arts advisors in Baker Lake in the crucial years of artistic flowering in the community from 1969 to 1976.

Peter Inukshuk was an elder artist who created a small but interesting oeuvre of sculptures before his death in 1975. Most of his figures are unclothed standing males, some quite distinctive for their depiction of genitalia (see Lot 49 for the artist’s masterpiece in this genre). Inukshuk carved human figures with details so sparse that it’s hard to tell if they are clothed or not; come to think of it, in that sense they are reminiscent of many works by the Rankin Inlet sculptors John Tiktak (see Lot 101) and John Kavik (see Lot 71). Even though Inukshuk’s style is spare and elegant, the artist beautifully conveys a sense of excitement with Man Signalling Caribou Sighting.

References: Fine examples of standing male figures by Inukshuk are illustrated in George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92), fig. 57, p. 38; Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture / Inuit, Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), fig. 399; Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1978), cat. 14; Jean Blodgett, The Coming and Going of the Shaman, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1979), p. 69; and Darlene Coward Wight, The Faye and Bert Settler Collection, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2004), p. 64.