Additional Images

Provenance:

Acquired directly from the artist, ca. 2000

Note:

We are pleased to present six exceptional works by Manasie Akpaliapik in this auction. Purchased directly from the artist in the mid-late 1990s, each represents a significant element of the artist’s practice, exemplifying the fertility of imagination and astounding range of technical achievement for which he has become known.

Complex in its composition, bristling with fine detail, and monumental in scale, The Meeting of Two Tribes clearly proclaims Manasie’s mastery of carving in stone as much as in whalebone.

Liberated from the inherent confines of bone, in The Meeting of Two Tribes Manasie has been free to develop to the utmost the circular compositions that recur throughout his work, appearing prominently in lots 85 and 87 of this auction.

A central face on each of the two sides of the sculpture anchors the composition, each stare out at the viewer with expressive bloodshot eyes. One is that of a man, his face pierced with two figural labrets, the other, the face of a woman, tattooed and unnaturally round. She is adorned with mask-like protrusions in the form of flippers and the effigy of a seal. Surrounding the faces are a large walrus, an owl, and the head over a bear, resting over the partially concealed face of a man.


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