Untitled (Hunter and Two Caribou)

Description

Untitled (Hunter and Two Caribou) by Luke Anguhadluq – Inuit Art – Baker Lake c. 1969 original drawing presented by DaVic Gallery of Native Canadian Arts.

Condition:          Overall very good condition – some paper handling marks caused by the artist.  Ghost images from drawing lines made by the artist when drawing on a paper over this paper (picture # 5).  Graphite smudged at both limb ends of the bow also caused by the artist while drawing this piece.  This is all intentionally left as-is to maintain the integrity and originality of the effort of the effort of the artist, including mistakes and oversights.  Two tapes top margin of the paper, verso from previous framing.  Professional restoration not recommended as this would erase traces remaining of the artist handling this paper.

Provenance: Wagonfeld Collection; Feheley Fine Arts; Jack and Sheila Butler Collection

Exhibited and published: Loveland Museum Gallery, Survival: Inuit Art (2004) p. 40; Feheley Fine Arts, The Butler Collection (1999), p. 93; Cynthia Waye Cook, From the Centre: The Drawings of Luke Anguhadluq (1993) cat. 14. Also exhibited: Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary, Baker Lake Drawings from the Jack and Sheila Butler Collection (1991).

In his commentary in the Feheley catalogue Jack Butler describes how the mixed perspectives and relative sizes of things made perfect sense from Anguhadluq’s point of view. The bow and arrow (and thus the hunter) are positioned facing the caribou, while the caribou are shown from the hunter’s perspective. The large size of the bow conveys its importance to the hunter, while the caribou are portrayed as fat with large antlers (see p. 92).

Description by Artist:     No description by artist found.

Curatorial Notes from DaVic Gallery:

The Architecture of the Hunt: A Masterwork of Syncretistic Perspective – This exceptional graphite-on-paper drawing is a profound artifact of the Jack and Sheila Butler Collection, representing the genesis of the Baker Lake drawing movement. To the sophisticated eye, its “unsigned” status is irrelevant; its authenticity is etched into the very fibers of the paper through Luke Anguhadluq’s singular, unmistakable hand.

Pentimenti and the Creative Struggle – This work offers a rare, intimate window into Anguhadluq’s process. We observe significant pentimenti—the visible traces of the artist’s earlier iterations. Most striking is the “ghosted” image of the hunter. Anguhadluq initially rendered the figure on a larger scale, only to “erase” and reposition him in a diminished, secondary role. This was not a “failed” attempt, but a masterful editorial decision to prioritize the spiritual hierarchy of the hunt.

The Hierarchy of the Bow – In a subversion of Western figurative norms, the bow and arrow are rendered with monumental scale, while the hunter is reduced to a functional conduit. This emphasizes the agency of the tool and the life-and-death gravity of the weapon over the individuality of the man. The arrow is not merely an object; it is the dominant narrative force, bridging the gap between the human and the animal spirits.

Syncretistic Perspective: The Rotating Eye – True to his legendary style, Anguhadluq utilized a rotating perspective. By physically turning the paper as he worked, he fused two distinct points of view into a single plane:

• The Witness View: We observe the hunter from a profile, “outsider” perspective.

• The Subjective View: The two caribou are rendered as if seen through the hunter’s own eyes.

This creates a “totalizing” view of the event, capturing the tension of the close-range approach and the chilling stillness of the grazing, unaware prey.

Materiality and the “Ghost Images”  – The physical execution here is remarkably visceral. Anguhadluq’s pencil strokes are so firm and authoritative that the “memory” of the drawing is embossed onto the reverse side. Furthermore, the presence of ghost images from subsequent drawings—created as he worked through stacks of paper in the Baker Lake settlement—connects this specific sheet to a larger chronological sequence of his artistic output. It is a tactile record of a moment in Inuit art history.

Exhibition History & Provenance

This work is a documented pillar of Inuit art scholarship. Beyond the Butler and Feheley names, its inclusion in the seminal Survival: Inuit Art (2004) exhibition and the definitive AGO publication From the Centre (1993) elevates it from a mere drawing to a museum-quality historical document. It is a “Primary Source” in every sense—raw, monochromatic, and spiritually charged.

For size comparison with letter size sheet, please reference picture # 4