|
Dear friends,
Please visit us in person or online to see our new acquisitions. Of course, we can only highlight a fraction of our selections in newsletters and on the website. If you are looking for a particular artist, subject or community, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.
|
We have a small but choice collection of tupilaks available. The owner comes from the family of an Inuit art dealer, who purchased a number of tupilaks that were made before 1965. The collection that we are offering represents the cream of the crop, which the family kept for its private collection. They are in excellent condition. These tupilaks were made by Tiktalo Kuitse (from Kulusuk Island) and Poul Sikvat (from Kulusuk), although we do not know which of these were made by which artist.
Tupilaks are a uniquely Greenlandic artform. Originally, a tupilak was a creature made by someone skilled in sorcery for the purpose of harming an intended target. In The Art of Greenland, Bodil Kaalund writes, "No one has ever found a genuine tupilak, but when the Danes came to East Greenland and heard so much about tupilek and wanted to know what they looked like, people began carving models in order to illustrate the concept. It soon proved that the more bizarre and alarming the figure appeared, the more fascinating it was to the European purchasers. Gradually, it became a business to make corporeal the magical beings that figured so largely in the old world of ideas."
Tupilaks are constrained as to size and form, because they are made either from whale's teeth or from antler. Both of these media dictate a long, thin, cylindrical form. |
|
|
Abraham Anghik Ruben is an Inuit artist whose work does not fit into any of the usual categories. Abraham was born in 1951 near Paulatuk in the Northwest Territories. His great-grandparents were shamans from Alaska. Initially, Abraham lived on the land in a traditional lifestyle. When he was eight years old, he was removed from his family and sent south to a residential school for Inuit children. These schools, like their American counterparts, strove to assimilate the Inuit into mainstream Canadian culture, and discouraged the children from speaking Inuktitut or celebrating their heritage.
Since reaching adulthood, Abraham has devoted great effort to reconnecting with his traditional roots. In addition, his work has been influenced by Northwest Coast culture, since he has lived on Salt Spring Island near Vancouver, B.C. since 1986. In the last decade, he has also explored connections between the Inuit and the Vikings, inspired by the fact that one of his relatives assisted Vilhjalmur Stefansson on his expeditions in the Canadian Arctic.
Pictured above are two beautiful works by Abraham from the 1990s. The stone is imported, not indigenous. One sculpture depicts a preening loon, and its stylization is evocative of Northwest Coast formline designs. The other is a complex bird-human transformation; again, the details of the carving's face are reminiscent of Northwest Coast masks.
|
|
|
About Us
Alaska on Madison is a gallery of indigenous art of Alaska and Canada run by collectors for collectors. We feature Inuit art of the twentieth and twenty-first century Canadian Arctic, two-thousand-year-old objects from the Old Bering Sea cultures, and nineteenth century art from the Northwest Coast peoples and Yup'ik Eskimos. Our collection ranges from museum-quality works to more modest but still excellent works for private collectors, whether novice or sophisticated. We also have a selection of books that will enhance your appreciation of your collection.
Baffled by syllabic signatures? Learn how to interpret them by using our guide, Deciphering Inuktitut Signatures, and our Inuit Artist Search Tool.
Regular gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 1:30 - 6:00 pm, but it's always a good idea to call or email in advance in case we have an appointment out of the gallery.
Visit our website
|
