Provenance:

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

Note:

Pitseolak Ashoona's art career began with sewing and embroidering in an arts and crafts program initiated by the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. For two years she made primarily sewn works until the Kinngait (Cape Dorset) graphics studio was established in 1959. Inspired by works made by her cousin Kiakshuk, Pitseolak began drawing, and quickly became recognized for her work in graphite, and later print media. [1] An early practitioner of engraving following its introduction by Terry Ryan (1922-2017) to Kinngait in 1961, Pitseolak’s drawing style of shading through rapid line movements seems to have found perfect expression in the medium of engraving with its capacity to express wiry thin lines. [2]

A highly acclaimed artist even in her own lifetime, Pitseolak Ashoona was also the mother of important artists Kiawak, Kaka, Koomwartok, Ottochie, and Napatchie Pootoogook.

Untitled from 1962 depicts a man and women holding up a newly caught fish in the presence of two mischievous spirits who appear to be tugging at the women’s amauti. The scene is rendered in Pitseolak Ashoona’s distinctive motif of rhythmic parallel lines.

Of the relatively small number of early engravings produced by Pitseolak, we are very pleased to offer nine in this auction (see lots 14 through 22).


Published:

The Canadian Eskimo Art Committee, 1962 Eskimo Graphic Art, I’Art Graphique des Esquimaux, Ottawa, Ontario: Mortimer Ltd., 1962. pl. 55.

References:

1. Lalonde, Christone, “Pitseolak Ashoona, Life and Work”, Art Canada Institute. Accessed February 21, 2022. Click here to read more.

2. Eber, Dorothy Harley, Pitseolak Ashoona in Pictures Out of My Life, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003, p. 102.