NAPACHIE POOTOOGOOK (1938 -2002) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Bird Spirits, 1960 #43
Printmaker: JONASSIE SALAMONIE (1938-1998) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
stonecut, 19 x 24 in (48.3 x 61 cm)
1/50

ESTIMATE: $3,500 — $5,000

Provenance
Collection of John and Joyce Price, Seattle.

From the earliest years of Napachie’s career, Bird Spirits is one of the most delightfully magical Cape Dorset print images of the period. It offers a glimpse into the old stories and myths that influenced many of the artist’s early works on paper. Presented against a lightly rolled and/or sponged background, the stark, black-inked figures are bold against the textured blue. Much like her other early works, the story may not have been taken from Napachie’s immediate experience:

I have never seen a spirit. Perhaps if I saw a spirit, I would have a heart attack. I have heard people talking about having seen spirits. It would be quite a different story to me if I had seen one.
—Napachie in Leroux et al ed., Inuit Women Artists, 1994, p. 139.

References: For an overview of the artist’s life and work, see Odette Leroux, Marion E. Jackson and Minnie Aodla Freeman, ed., Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994), p. 133-157. See also Leslie Boyd Ryan and Darlene Coward Wight, Napachie Pootoogook, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2004), and Leslie Boyd Ryan, “‘Mannaruluujujuq’ (Not So Long Ago): The Memories of Napachie Pootoogook," Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3, Fall 2005, p. 9-16. See also Jean Blodgett, et.al. Three Women, Three Generations: Drawings by Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona, (Kleinberg, ON: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999).