Additional Images

Provenance:

Private collection, Toronto, ON

Note:

Born into a family of important artists, Josiah Nuilaalik, son of Jessie Oonark, created a significant and highly distinctive body of work late in his life. [1] Nuilaalik’s sculptures explore images of the spirit world and of transformation. While to our eye, far from naturalistic in their anatomy, his figures often convey their weight and a sense of stilled movement with an exceptional clarity.

Although Nuilaalik is sometimes quoted as having said that he had not encountered the fantastical images that he portrayed, this admission has been qualified by Harold Seidelman, once a patron of Nuilaalik’s, and author of The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture. Seidelman explains that Nuilaalik was very clear when questioned about the veracity of his sources. In one instance Seidelman queried if an image of a serpent with a man’s head carved by Nuilaalik was a biblical reference, “No!” replied Nuilaalik “This is real!” [2]

(1) Gerald McMaster, Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2011), 37.
(2) Harold Seidelman, personal correspondence with the author February 17, 2022.