Additional Images

Provenance:

The Collection of Terry Ryan
Private Collection, Ontario

Note:

Before the creation of the legendary 1959 print release at Kinngait (Cape Dorset), James Houston travelled to Japan to gain knowledge about traditional Japanese printing techniques that would be invaluable in the development of printmaking in the Arctic. Intent on studying with master printmaker Un’ichi Hiratsuka, Houston also worked with other Japanese printmakers including Shiko Munakata, Shoji Hamada, Keisuke Serizawa, Kichiemon Okamura, Sadoa Watanabe, and Yoshito Mori. (1) Back in Kinngait, Osuitok Ipeelee, Iyola Kingwatsiak, Eegyvudluk Pootoogook, Kananginak Pootoogook, and Lukta Qiatsuk worked with techniques brought back by Houston, manipulating, adapting and developing them to suit their needs and preferences. An artist himself, and eager to teach by example, James Houston was not to be left behind. Houston made prints of his own, including his iconic 1959 portrait of the mysterious artist Niviaksiak.

The present print block portrait of an unidentified Inuk dates circa 1959 and is from the personal collection of Terry Ryan, the first art advisor and general manager of the West Baffin Co-operative.

(1) Norman Vorano et al., Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration: Early Printmaking in the Canadian Arctic (Gatineau, Québec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2011), 9.