Provenance:

Estate of W.A. Ross MacFadden, Toronto, ON

Note:

In a 1976 interview conducted by John K. Robertson, Jack Butler, founder of the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative, said of Hunting Caribou from Kayaks: “In the Autumn, the Inuit camped near the usual crossing places of the migrating caribou herds, hunting the animals from Kayaks as they swam across the rivers. Anguhadluq shows from three different viewpoints the conical tens at the water’s edge, the hunters setting out in kayaks, and the caribou. Composed of four stone-cuts and several stencils, both splattered and brushed, the print is of such technical complexity that an edition of only nineteen was pulled.” [1.]

We are pleased to offer a rare example of this complex and irregular print. The events depicted are laid out from right to left in an arrangement unfamiliar to European composition. The black silhouettes of caribou swim across dark waters—perhaps in the dim of morning light—as hunters emerge in their kayaks illuminated in a bright field of pink. A few caribou at the front of their herd appear mysteriously in blue, as do the hunters’ flattened dwellings.

References:

1. Goetz, Helga, and Dr. William E Taylor Jr. The Inuit Print / T'estampe Inuit. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1977. p. 233