Additional Images

Provenance:

Asger Rye Pedersen Collection, Nunavut;
Waddington’s Auctioneers, Toronto, ON, 1983, Lot 177P;
Private Collection, Toronto, ON;
Waddington’s Auctioneers, Toronto, ON, Lot 262, 6 April, 2009;
Private Collection, Toronto, ON

Note:

A rare and important example of the talents of sculptor and printmaker Charlie Avakana. This relief-carved sculpture depicting a hunter and his team of dogs pursuing caribou was acquired directly from the artist by collector and public servant Asger Rye "Red" Pedersen (b. 1935). In the Northern Heritage Native Art publication The Peterson Collection, the author recalls of the work “[Charlie Avakana] started an elaborate carving of a caribou antler — done in relief, which I had never seen before. And the few I’ve seen since are out and out take-offs.…This is Charlie’s first carving. Because he went in too deeply most of the traces have broken off, but to me it is a very significant piece of work.” [1]

Surprisingly little is known about Avakana’s career. Based in Kugluktuk (Coppermine), Avakana was the son of George Avakana and Lena Avakana (née Klengenberg), and the grandson of famous Danish Explorer and whaler Christian (Charlie) Klengenberg Jørgensen. [2] Best known for his relief-carved sculpture and exquisite works of craft in antler and bone, important artworks from the artist’s small output are held in the collections of public institutions including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

(1) Northern Heritage Native Art, The Red Pedersen Collection, n.d.
(2) Inuit Art Foundation. “Charlie Avakana: IAQ Profiles.” Inuit Art Foundation. https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/profiles/artist/Charlie-Avakana.