UNTITLED (WINTER SCENE), CA. 1977
stroud, felt, embroidery floss, thread signed in syllabics; also inscribed “ᐃᓄ ᓇᐱᑐ” 56 x 58.5 in — 142.2 x 148.6 cm
Estimate: $50,000—70,000
Dense, vibrant, and skilfully constructed, Untitled (Winter Scene) by Marion Tuu’luq is a rich tableau of winter life in stroud and felt. With its crown of igloos, it seems to offer a counterpoint to the artist’s many spring and summer scenes, dotted by warm weather tents.
Winter in the Arctic has traditionally been the Inuit ceremonial season, a time of transformation, and of commune with spirits, both benign and malevolent.
Notable in the present work are the many images of the apparently supernatural amidst the everyday hurly-burly of the composition. Animals with humanoid faces, humanoid figures with tails, and toward the bottom left of the composition, a wolf or fox-like figure standing on two legs, seem to cause little concern to their more commonplace counterparts.
A sprawling, monumental scene by Tuu’luq, the work embodies a marvellous sense of rhythmic, sometimes colliding movement. The frenetic depiction of life on the move, or the raucous, at times chaotic life of the settlement is distinctive to Tuu’luq’s oeuvre, but is depicted as elsewhere in the artist’s work using a linear stylistic device more commonly found in the drawings of Tuu’luq’s husband Luke Anguhadluq (see lot 19).
Speaking of Tuul’uq’s work in her 2002 book on the artist, Marie Bouchard presciently observed that “[Tuu’luq’s] compositions are based on repetitions of format, motif, and colour that are as rhythmic as the seasons. All explore simple yet intricate aboriginal notions of regeneration, a rebirth that contributes to a sense of place, history, and endurance.”[1]
[1] Marie Bouchard, Marion Tuu’luq (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2002), 34.
We are pleased to offer this impressive work on cloth as lot 18 in our spring auction of Inuit Art, alongside lot 22, Untitled (Travelling), CA. 1980, and lot 21, Untitled (Transportation), CA. 1980.
ABOUT THE AUCTION
This major auction of important Inuit art includes selections from the collection of former Northwest Territories Arts and Crafts Development Officer David Sutherland, the complete collection of prints by Parr, assembled for the 1979 Parr retrospective, and significant works by Marion Tuu’luq, Karoo Ashevak, John Pangnark, Judas Ullulaq, Osuitok Ipeelee, Pauta Saila, Kenojuak Ashevak, Pudlo Pudlat, Joe Kiloonik, Oviloo Tunnillie, and others.
The auction is offered online May 8 – 29, 2025.
You must be registered to bid in this auction. Please register here.
PUBLIC PREVIEWS
Previews at our Toronto gallery located at 100 Broadview Avenue, are available:
Wednesday, May 21 from 10 am to 7 pm
Thursday, May 22 from 10 am to 5 pm
Friday, May 23 from 10 am to 5 pm
Saturday, May 24 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Sunday, May 25 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Monday, May 26 from 10 am to 5 pm
Tuesday, May 27 from 10 am to 5 pm
Wednesday, May 28 from 10 am to 5 pm
Thursday, May 29 from 10 am to 12 pm
Or by appointment.
Contact us to find out more.
