Lot 315
Mathew Aqigaaq ᒪᑐ ᐊᑭᒐ (1940-2010)
Lot 315 Details
Mathew Aqigaaq ᒪᑐ ᐊᑭᒐ (1940-2010), Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake)
MUSK OX WITH SHAMAN, CA. 1975
stone
signed in syllabics; accompanied by "Canadian Eskimo Art" tag inscribed "Mathew Aquita / Baker Lake / 1975 / Head with Muskox"
7.75 x 12.5 x 4.5 in — 19.7 x 31.8 x 11.4 cm
Estimate $2,500-$3,500
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Hamilton, ON
Note:
The image of a face interposed between the front quarters of two musk oxen appears in several early iterations by the artist. Notable for its emphasis on the clear distinction between the male and female musk ox, this example is particularly refined in the crispness of its detail.
In The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture, author Harold Seidelman says of a closely-related work, “Balanced between two worlds, the angakoq looks to the future and the past. He sees the worlds of reality and imagination with an outer and an inner vision.” [1]
(1) Harold Seidelman and James E. Turner, The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture (Vancouver (B.C.): Douglas and McIntyre, 2001), 19, pl. 3.