brother of Winnie TyyaHarold Qarliksaq (1928-1980)  Harold Qarliksaq was born in 1928 near the remote shores of Garry Lake. His parents belonged to the Hanningajuqmiut, an isolated group of inland Inuit related to the Utkusiksalingmiut further east. Qarliksaq and his siblings did not see their first white man until the late 1940s, when Father Joseph Buliard established a small Roman Catholic mission at Garry Lake. Qarliksak and his wife first arrived in Baker Lake to the south in 1958, when game and ammunition shortages forced many Inuit to leave the Back River and Garry Lake areas. However, he continued to hunt, trap and trade, and did not settle in Baker Lake as a permanent resident until 1970. He started making drawings soon thereafter, and five of his images were published as prints and included in Baker Lake's 1971 collection. Qarliksak continued to draw with dedication and focus, never becoming involved in the printmaking process as many other artists did. His wife, Martha Apsaq (1930-1995), and his sister Winnie Tatya also became artists, both known for their fine wallhangings. A total of 17 of Qarliksak's images were released as prints until 1980, when his life and career were cut short by a fatal heart attack.Qarliksaq is best known for his unique drawing style, in parcticular his distinctive "double line" technique whereby the outer contours of many of his images are defined by a thick, softly textured line rendered in graphite pencil. Darlene Wight observes that Qarlikaq's fluid and supple line "flows rhythmically like a quiet stream" around the bodies of animals and the faces of people, giving their forms an expressive sensuousness. While the unique properties of Qarliksaq's line are for the most part lost in the translation of his images into stonecut prints, the latter retain the often equally compelling compositional qualities of the original drawings. Rarely coloured, many compositions eschew a unified or naturalistic pictorial space, and feature instead multiple perspectives and rhythmic repetitions. At the same time, Qarliksaq's imagery is resolutely "of this world." Common subjects include caribou, fish, men and women engaged in everyday activities such as hunting and travelling overland, and isolated human heads; references to shamanism and the spiritual traditions of the Inuit, favourite themes with many Baker Lake artists, appear only infrequently in his work.Selected ReferencesHarold Qarliksaq: A Decade of Drawings (2001, exhibition brochure), Darlene WightQamanittuaq: Where the River Widens (1994), Judith Nasby, ed.

Exhibitions

• A Culture on Paper: Baker Lake Drawings, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Baker Lake - Drawings, Sculpture, Tapestries, Theo Waddington
• Baker Lake Drawings, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Baker Lake Drawings, Vancouver Public Aquarium
• Baker Lake Drawings, Gallimaufrey
• Baker Lake Drawings, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Print Collection *71, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *72, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *73, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *74, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *75, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *78, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *79, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Retrospective: A Twenty Year Anniversary, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Prints & Print-Drawings: 1970-1976, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Baker Lake Prints - Ten Year Retrospective, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Prints and Drawings: 1970-1973, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Extension Services
• Baker Lake Prints and Print Drawings, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
• Drawings and Sculpture from Baker Lake, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/ Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture, National Gallery of Modern Art
• Eskimo Narrative, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Games of the Inuit, Northern Images
• Harold Qarliksaq Drawings, Waddington Galleries
• Harold Qarliksaq, Baker Lake - Drawings, Theo Waddington Inc.
• Inuit Art from the Art Centre Collection, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Inuit Art in the 1970s, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
• Inuit Drawings, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Inuit Games and Contests: The Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints, University of Alberta
• Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959-1990, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics from the Past, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961-1987, Arctic Artistry
• Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics, Jerusalem Artists' House Museum
• Qamanittuaq: Where the River Widens Drawings by Baker Lake Artists, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Shamans and Spirits: Myths and Medical Symbolism in Eskimo Art, Canadian Arctic Producers and the National Museum of Man
• Shamans and Spirits: Myths and Medical Symbolism in Eskimo Art, Arts and Learning Services Foundation (this is a duplicate of the C.A.P. and National Museum of Man exhibition of 1976-1981)
• The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Inuit Imagination, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Way We Were - Traditional Eskimo Life, Snow Goose Associates
• The World Around Me, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Two Artists - Sculpture/Arlook, Drawings/Qarlisaq, Image of the Inuit Contempo Westwood Centre
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Collections

• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• ARCTIC MEMORIES, Author: Burke, Mary, Publication: Arts Atlantic, 35, vol. 9, no. 3, Fall, 1989. p.60 (1989)
• ARVIAT. — Eskimo Point, Author: Marion Scott Gallery, Publication: Vancouver: Marion Scott Ltd. (1989)
• BAKER LAKE PRINTS 1970-1982: — Retrospective, Author: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Publication: Vancouver: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver (1989)
• CONTEMPORARY INUIT SCULPTURE — An Approach to the Medium, the Artists and their Work. By Marie Routledge and Ingo Hessel., Author: Routledge, Marie and Ingo Hessel, Publication: [Manuscript, in English, of an essay for the exhibition catalogue: IM SCHATTEN DER SONNE: ZEITGENOESSISCHE KUNST DER INDIANER UND ESKIMOS IN KANADA.] (1988)
• CROSSING THE CIRCLE — The Indian Avant Garde, Author: McLuhan, Elizabeth, Publication: [Manuscript, in English, of an essay for the exhibition catalogue: IM SCHATTEN DER SONNE: ZEITGENOESSISCHE KUNST DER INDIANER UND ESKIMOS IN KANADA.] (1988)
• ESKIMO ARTS AND CRAFTS — A Selected Bibliography Prepared by the Library, Author: Canada. Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Dev., Publication: Ottawa: Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1969)
• INUIT ART RESOURCES : ASPECTS OF THEIR MAINTENANCE AND DISSEMINATION, Author: Saunders, Michael Sean, Publication: Unpublished manuscript (1987)
• INUIT DRAWINGS, Author: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Publication: Vancouver: Inuit Gallery of Vancouver (1990)
• INUIT JOURNEY, Author: Iglauer, Edith, Publication: Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre (1979)
• INUIT SCULPTURE — Jacopsee Oopakak and Zeke Ejesiak, Aqjangajuk Shaa, Mikigak Kingwatsiak, Kelly Pishuktee, Taqialuq Nuna, Melia Psadluq, Tommy Takpanie [et. al.], Author: Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Publication: Montreal: Canadian Guild of Crafts (1989)
• LA SCULPTURE SUR STEATITE AU NOUVEAU-QUEBEC, Author: Roy, Camille, Publication: Montreal: Ministre des Richesses Naturelles (1976)
• MORE TALES FROM THE IGLOO. — As Told by Agnes Nanogak. Introduction by Robin Gedalof McGrath, Author: Nanogak, Agnes, Publication: Edmonton: Hurtig (1986)
• NORVAL MORRISEAU AND THE NEW INDIAN REGIONALISM, Author: McLuhan, Elizabeth, Publication: [Manuscript, in English, of an essay for the exhibition catalogue: IM SCHATTEN DER SONNE: ZEITGENOESSISCHE KUNST DER INDIANER UND ESKIMOS IN KANADA.] (1988)
• ON SEARCH OF THINGS PAST, REMEMBERED, RETRACTED AND REINVENTED., Author: Reid, Martine, Publication: [Manuscript, in English, of an essay for the exhibition catalogue: IM SCHATTEN DER SONNE: ZEITGENOESSISCHE KUNST DER INDIANER UND ESKIMOS IN KANADA.] (1988)
• PEOPLE OF THE SNOW — Eskimos of Arctic Canada., Author: Tolboom, Wanda, Publication: New York, Coward-McCann, (1956)
• SPOKEN IN STONE : AN EXHIBITION OF INUIT ART, Author: Lipsett, Katherine, Publication: Edmonton: Inuit Art Enthusiasts Newsletter 44:14-17, (1990)
• THE CANADIAN ESKIMOS., Author: Taylor, J. Garth, Publication: Toronto: The Royal Ontario Museum (1971)
• THE HISTORY OF INUIT CULTURE, Author: Sutherland, Patricia D., Publication: [Manuscript, in English, of an essay for the exhibition catalogue: IM SCHATTEN DER SONNE: ZEITGENOESSISCHE KUNST DER INDIANER UND ESKIMOS IN KANADA.] (1988)
• THE MCMICHAEL CANADIAN ART COLLECTION — Twenty-fifth anniversary edition, 1965-1990., Author: McMichael Canadian Collection, Publication: Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. (1989)
• WHEN THE WHALERS WERE UP NORTH — Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic., Author: Eber, Dorothy Harley, Publication: Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press (1989)