PARR (1893-1969) m., KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)

Hunter with Animals,1961

graphite on paper, 17 x 18 in (43.2 x 45.7 cm)

unsigned.

Provenance

Private Collection, Fairbanks, Alaska;

Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection.

Publications

Ingo Hessel, “The Drawings of Parr: A Closer Look”, Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4, Fall 1988, reproduced, p. 16, no. 4

In the 1988 Inuit Art Quarterly article “The Drawings of Parr: A Closer Look” (see above), Hunter with Animals is reproduced as an example of Parr’s Second Period: “systematized presentation.” Unaware of Western notions of perspective and accuracy of scale, during this period Parr invented a system in which the sizes of the animals represent relative size or importance, but not distance from the viewer. In Hunter with Animals, the human and animal figures are stratified and evenly spaced, their bodies carefully partitioned and filled in with rapidly applied pencil strokes. Parr came to maturity in the traditional Inuit way of life, hunting and raising a family in southern Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island) until a hunting accident resulted in the amputation of part of his right foot. Parr’s firsthand experience of hunting and living on the land provided the artist with a wealth of subject matter that engaged his imagination as did no other subjects. He would continuously depict scenes of the hunt in his signature bold style throughout his short but prolific career.

Literature: For contemporaneous examples see Gerald McMaster ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), p. 166; Marion E. Jackson, Parr: His Drawings (Halifax: Mount Saint Vincent University, 1988), cat. 9; Ingo Hessel, “The Drawings of Parr: A Closer Look”, Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4, Fall 1988, figs. 3, 5.