Additional Images

Provenance:

Galerie Elca London, Montreal, QC;
Private collection, Ottawa, ON

Note:

An exceptional artist among many talented peers, Sivuarapik is undoubtedly one of the great sculptors to come from the Puvirnituq region. The subject of articles that appeared in The Beaver magazine in 1956 and in Canadian Geographic Journal in 1960, it has been said that the artist was one of the most recognized in the region for his period. [1]

Although few of Sivurapik’s 1950s era carvings seem to be signed, they all bear the recognizable characteristics of the master’s hand, defined by lifelike postures, refined finishes, and exceptional attention to the representation of the subject’s garments.

Several known examples of Sivurapik’s work incorporate components made from ivory or bone. The use of these contrasting materials was often a necessity for the sculptor, who wished to include fine detail in an unforgiving stone carving. The visual effect of the contrast is to draw the eye to implements often fundamental to Inuit survival, and give them a heightened weight and presence in the composition, an effect achieved with mastery in the present lot.

(1) Winnipeg Art Gallery, Charlie Sivuarapik Canadian, 1911–1968 Man Carrying a Caribou, c. 1954, WAG100.ca, Accessed April 24, 2022.

Related Works:
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Cat. No. G-72-88. Click here to read more
Waddington’s Auctioneers, Toronto, ON, February 2017, lot 47. Click here to read more


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