5 × 7 in
in
cm
$1,400
This elegant and moving sculpture by Lucy Tutsweetok is a representation of one of the most iconic and enduring themes in art history: mother and child. This trope is one of the most significant motifs in Inuit art as it speaks to the central role of Inuk mothers in the Arctic. As generators of life and keepers of the family, Inuk mothers are often portrayed as holding and carrying their babies and children, their bodies entwined. In this minimal angular sculpture, Tutsweetok used sparing lines to render the amauti (parka) and faces emerge from her backside – children carried in the back pouch while their mother is working. As the viewer circles this sculpture, the little family reveals itself with simplicity and beauty.
| Medium | Sculpture |
| Signature | Signed |
| Frame | Unframed |
| Condition | excellent |
| Seller | Private |
| Location | Vancouver, Canada |
| Provenance | Private Collection, Vancouver. |
Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok (1934–2012) was a renowned sculptor from Arviat, Nunavut. She is known as one of the key artists who established the ‘minimalist’ style of sculpture associated with this region of Nunavut located on the western coast of Hudson Bay.
Tutsweetok began carving in the early 1960s. Her sculptures, most often representing mothers and children or family groups, are carved in a semi-abstract style wherein the human figure is rarely defined in detail. Working in the extremely hard local stone, Tutsweetok often left large undulating surfaces uncarved, adding sparingly the suggestion of faces, arms and legs which seem to emerge from the stone. Occasionally, she incised images onto her sculptures, indicating an interest in graphic art. In Tutsweetok’s later years, she turned to drawing, filling sheets of paper with highly coloured, almost abstract images.
Exhibitions
2015 Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok: I Turn to Stone
Feheley Fine Arts – Toronto, ON
(catalogue with essay by Ingo Hessel)
2011/2012 Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok
Art Gallery of Ontario
Toronto, ON
2010 Inuit Modern
Art Gallery of Ontario
Toronto, ON
2006 Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum
Phoenix, Arizona
1994 Kanuitpit: Kunst und Kulturen der Eskimo
Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munchen – Munich, Germany
1989 – 1990 The Stone Sculpture of Arviat
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, ON
National Gallery of Canada – Ottawa, ON
Collections
Art Gallery of Ontario
Canadian Museum of History
Dennos Museum Center,Traverse City, MI
Inuit Cultural Institute – Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
National Gallery of Canada
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Honours and Achievements
1991 Commissioned by the Earth Spirit Festival to carve a piece for the Visions of Power exhibition in Toronto.
1991 At the invitation of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Tasseor spent two weeks in Hull carving works for the CMC exhibition “Indigena.” She attended the opening of the show in April 1992.
1988 Attended the gala opening of the new National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
1973 Attended the opening of the exhibition “Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic” in Philadelphia.
Source: https://feheleyfinearts.com/artists/lucy-tasseor-tutsweetok/
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