JUTAI TOONOO (1959-2015) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Miqsuqtuq (She Sews), 2010
oil pastel on paper, 30 x 44.5 in (76.2 x 113 cm)
titled, dated, and signed, "Miqsuqtuq / 2010 / ᔪᑌ ᑐᓄ".

ESTIMATE: $4,000 — $6,000

Provenance
A British Columbia Collection.

Beyond visual art, Jutai Toonoo was a poet, a philosopher, and an introspective thinker. Many of his drawings made in the years 2010-13 focused on subjects he encountered in daily life including intriguing studies of his peers and family members. Here, Jutai captures a woman intently threading a needle, an activity also often depicted by his contemporaries Annie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona. Executed in oil pastel on black paper, Jutai’s energetic drawing marks generate a feeling of glowing vibration, almost as if simulating the feeling of anxiety. Several of his works illustrated in the Feheley Fine Arts catalogue Body Contemplation (2012) were created in the same style, which he carried on through to the end of his career.

References: For works completed in a similar style, see the Feheley Fine Arts catalogue Body Contemplation (April 21 – May 12, 2012).