Additional Images

Provenance:

Private collection, Ontario

Note:

The 1950s and early 1960s saw a brief but remarkable flowering of art production in Salluit. [1] Artists developed a highly distinctive formal style, which despite the poor quality stone found in the region, includes many of the great early achievements in twentieth century Inuit sculpture.

Sculpture from Salluit benefited from the talents of a high percentage of female artists, and so it is perhaps not surprising that there are so many exceptional depictions of mothers with children in Salluit art. This sculpture from the early 1950s by Annie Kinnaujaq Kadyulik typifies many of the most appealing attributes of Salluit carvings: a forcefulness of hand and stoutness in the figures, a monumentality in the overall form, and a subtle abstraction in the service of a pleasing composition.

A handful of Kadyulik’s sculptures have been preserved in public collections including the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, and the Art Gallery of London in Ontario. Unfortunately, little information is readily available about the artist’s life outside of what can be gleaned from her works, many of which are robust and compelling portraits of maternal care.

(1) Michael Neill and Ted Fraser, Sugluk Sculpture in Stone 1953-1959, (Windsor: Art Gallery of Windsor, 1970), p. 25-26.

Related Works:
Museum London, Cat. No. 77.A.81, Standing Mother and Infant, n.d., by Uitangi Miagiji. Click here to read more
Waddington’s Auctioneers, April 18, 2019, lot 94, Mother with Child in her Amaut, n.d., by Annie Kinnaujaq. Click here to read more
Canadian Museum of History, Cat. No. NA 517, Standing Woman, 1957, by Annie Kinnaujaq.
Click here to read more