Lot 46: Karoo Ashevak 1940 - 1974 Canadian Indigenous

Karoo Ashevak 1940 - 1974 Canadian Indigenous whalebone, caribou antler, stone, inset eyes Drum Dancer 22 x 10 x 10 inches 55.9 x 25.4 x 25.4 centimeters signed with syllabics Provenance:The Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto Private Collection, Toronto Exhibited:The Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto, Karoo Ashevak, solo exhibition, 1972 Inuit artist Karoo Ashevak is celebrated for his carvings depicting people, spirits, shamans, animals and birds. Combining the power of imagination with advanced carving skills, Ashevak transformed his personal visions into unique works of art. During a very brief period of production that lasted from 1969 until his death in 1974, the artist created approximately 250 works of art and inspired generations of artists. Ashevak was born in 1940 in the Kitimeot Region of Nunavut. The artist spent his early years in an environment in which people hunted and fished as a means of survival. This traditional way of life was challenged in the 1950s and 1960s; various factors, including climate change that altered animal migration patterns and a decline in the external demand for fur pelts, had an adverse effect on hunting income. The introduction of mandatory education and access to health care resulted in many families relocating from seasonal camps to live in more permanent settlements. In the mid 1960s, Ashevak moved with his family into Taloyoak. As part of their objective of providing the Inuit residents of Taloyoak with much-needed employment, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development established an arts and crafts program in the early 1960s. Ashevak participated in the government-sponsored program hoping to supplement his hunting income with revenue from the sale of artworks. Encouraged by his teacher Algie Malkauskas and his uncle, the sculptor Charlie Ugyuk, Ashevak excelled at carving. Many of Ashevak's sculptures, including this Drum Dancer, serve to document aspects of the traditional way of life or communicate legends and stories that were passed down from community elders. An important ritual, drumming was performed at numerous celebrations in Inuit culture. Throughout his career, Ashevak favoured whalebone for his carvings, a choice that might have been necessitated by an absence of stone deposits in the region. In order to provide the raw materials required for carving, government representatives organized expeditions to collect aged whalebones that were scattered over the tundra. These materials were transported by dog sled or flown in by chartered plane to Taloyoak where they would be transformed into works of art. Ashevak's artistic process involved searching out a piece of whalebone with a form that would lend itself well to the subject matter that he wished to create. In this sculpture, the back of the drum dancer takes advantage of the natural curve of the bone, allowing the viewer to experience the movement of the dancer's parka as he sways to the beat of the drum. Once the basic shape of the carving was established, Ashevak concentrated on the finishing touches, adding unusual details such as the highly realistic eyes of the figure that are made of either ivory or bone, and which include pupils made from metal nails. The use of incised graphic lines such as the circular shape on the figure's back is another distinctive characteristic of Ashevak's compositions. Resembling the shape of an eye, this detail may have been included to communicate the presence of a spirit or shaman. It was these painstaking details and finishing touches that differentiated Ashevak's works of art from others. Drum Dancer was included in the one-man exhibition that was held at the Inuit Gallery in Toronto in March of 1972. Featuring approximately 30 of Ashevak's carvings, this exhibition, organized by Avrom Isaacs, helped to launch Ashevak's artistic career. His reputation was strengthened by the success of the exhibition entitled Karoo Ashevak: Spirits, held at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York in January 1973. In 1977, the Winnipeg Art Gallery celebrated the life and work of Ashevak with a major retrospective and catalogue. We thank Natalie Ribkoff for contributing the above essay. In her position as the Curator of Visual Art at the TD Bank Group from 1988 - 2011, Ribkoff was responsible for the management of the TD Inuit Art Collection. She was the co-curator of ItuKiagâtta!, an exhibition of Inuit sculpture that was organized and circulated across Canada by the National Gallery of Canada in 2005.