Additional Images

Provenance:

Miqsuvik Sewing Shop, Qamani'tuaq, NU, 1980
The Collection of David Sutherland, Victoria, BC

Note:

Of two of the three significant works of nivingajuliat (tapestry, or wall-hanging) by Marion Tuu’luq in the present auction, lots 21, Untitled (Transportation) and 22,Untitled (Travelling) are closely related, and may have been conceived as an informal diptych.

Both images are made up of objects in rhythmic, sometimes colliding movement, a feature distinctive to the oeuvre of Tuu’luq, but unusual for its depiction in the present works, of mechanical conveyances.

Untitled (Travelling) is composed of vehicles and their occupants, and Untitled (Transportation) only vehicles (save a pair of disembodied legs). Both images feature frenetic movement interspersed with maple leaves in a manner typical of what author Marie Bouchard has called a “gentle disorderliness” in the images of Tuu’luq. Images of maple leaves are often emblazoned in Qamani’tuaq on vehicles visiting from the South, but also signal notions of place and identity which Marie Bouchard notes, were very much on the mind of the artist, “[Tuu’luq’s] art explores the issues of self-identity and collective cultural identity and how these could be negotiated between two cultures whose boundaries of understanding are in constant flux and open to outside influences.”[1]

A combination of vibrant and muted colours in the compositions are an exemplar of Tuu’luq’s interest in the abstract visual elements of her craft, and bring a complex visual texture to these two important works of nivingajuliat.

[1] Marie Bouchard, Marion Tuu’luq (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2002), 21.

Untitled (Travelling) is one of over 20 exceptional works in the present auction from the important lifetime collection of former Northwest Territories Arts and Crafts Development Officer David Sutherland.

An artist in his own right, and former student of the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr Institute), Sutherland developed a lifelong passion for Inuit art, and was an outspoken advocate and author on all matters Inuit, in addition to his role for over 20 years as Northwest Territories Arts and Crafts Development Officer.

Sutherland and his wife Aiko were popular residents in the various locations in which they were posted, including Inuvik, Churchill, and Yellowknife. Successful in his work, he had to decline promotions to be able to stay in the Arctic, where he continued to develop artists’ facilities into environments of creativity and self-discipline—values not reinforced by all of Sutherland’s predecessors.

Sutherland’s work brought him into intimate contact with important artists who he continued to champion after his retirement from his post in 1986, including Marion Tuu'luq, Janet Kigusiuq, John Pangnark, Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, John Kavik, Andy Miki, Luke Iksiktaaryuk, Mathew Aqigaaq and countless others. An avid collector, Sutherland also purchased works, primarily from the Miqsuvik Sewing Shop, and other craft stores in the communities in which he served.

Gunther Abrahamson, “David Sutherland (1931-2004)”, Inuit Art Quarterly. Vol. 20. No. 1, spring, 2025, 43.
Marie Bouchard, Marion Tuu’luq (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2002), 100.