Legend

Description

Condition:          Creasing of the paper overall and most noticeable on both left and right sides.

Description by Artist:     No description by artist found.

Notes from DaVic Gallery:   Last print available.  Note this is print number 25 of 25.

Mamngushualuk often depicted scenes from legends, and sometimes several events within the same composition.  “Legend” is justly an ambitiously large stonecut print measuring 2 ft by over 3 ft wide with very active composition depicting the legendary Inuit epic hero, “kiviuq”.  This legend is multi-layered with life moral, ethics and survival lessons and as such we can see several different scenes in this representation with people fighting, talking, children playing, family gathering, and then a group of people carrying and Kiviuq in his travelling kayak while some appear to be licking the kayak with their tongue.  Comparable to Homer’s Odysseus, Kiviuq is a wandering hero, a hunter who encounters and survives ever-present danger in harsh and unpredictable conditions in the Arctic.  Kiviuq is a great traveler, mapping the world as the Inuit knew it from his home where his parents waited for his return to the place where salt water did not freeze.  He travelled over mountain ranges and huge water bodies where the goose people wintered.  No matter how difficult hi voyage, he would come home singing.  Dangers of life in the Arctic reflect the dark side of this tales with cannibalism and murder. We also see beauty in Kiviuq’s bright heroism as master of the kayak and as the only person kind that was kind to an orphan.   He’s away from home for so long that doesn’t know how to measure how long.  The legend is very long that might explain most of the behaviors and activities in this print.

Note to reader: please do contact us with relevant information that may help further explain behaviors and activities in this print.   As I research and read about the Legend of Kiviuq it is now clear that several of Mamngushualuk’s works are based on the different stories from this epic, many of which unfortunately not carried by us but I do hope this will further help further support your interest in Inuit art that is so rich in non-westernized beliefs.