Additional Images

Provenance:

S. Family Collection, Toronto, ON

Note:

The image of a face interposed between the front quarters of two musk oxen appears in several early sculptures by Mathew Aqigaaq. As in other examples by the artist, the comparative size of the two musk oxen depicted distinguishes between the genders of the creatures. The present example is notable for its particularly crispness in carving and fine detail.

In The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture, author Harold Seidelman says of a closely related work by the artist: “Balanced between two worlds, the angakoq [shaman] looks to the future and the past. He sees the worlds of reality and imagination with an outer and an inner vision.”[1]

[1] Harold Seidelman and James E. Turner, The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture (Vancouver, BC: Douglas and McIntyre, 2001), 19, pl. 3.

Musk Oxen with Shaman is one of forty-five works in the present auction from a pioneering and important Toronto collection of Inuit art, the S. Family Collection.

Distinguished by its remarkable diversity, and uniformly high quality, the collection was built on over fifty years of dedication. Acquisitions were made both from the leading dealers and private collectors of the period, as well as directly from artists during several excursions to the north, including to Qamani'tuaq (Baker Lake), and Arviat.

Although the S. Family organized a handful of exhibitions specializing in sculpture, many artworks from their personal collection have remained largely unknown to the collector community. Significant sculptures and graphics come from artists including Davie Atchealak, Ooviloo Tunillie, Parr, John Tiktak, Joe Talirunili, Kiugak Ashoona, Nuna Parr, Aqjangajuk Shaa, and Mathew Aqigaaq.