JOHN KAVIK (1897-1993) KANGIQLINIQ (RANKIN INLET)

Standing Man, 1973

stone, 8.25 x 4.5 x 1.25 in (21 x 11.4 x 3.2 cm)

unsigned.

Provenance

Private Collection, California, purchased directly from the Artist in 1973;

Waddington's Auctions, June 2014, Lot 101;

Acquired from the above by a Private Collection, Toronto.

Until one begins to sift through scores of photographs it is not always apparent how truly inventive certain artists are, even relatively prolific ones such as John Kavik, who worked steadily from the very early 1960s until just a few years before his death in 1993. As one gallerist has written: "…every time Kavik picked up his tools to make a sculpture it was as if for the first time" [1]. For this reason it is not always easy to date works, so it is gratifying when they can be documented with precision. This fine Standing Man is quite naturally posed - for Kavik - and well finished, and could conceivably have been carved almost ten years earlier. However it retains the elemental, rugged sensibility that is the hallmark of the artist's style.

1. Derek Norton, "Introduction" in Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, John Kavik (1990).