Lot 52
JOHN KAVIK (1897-1993) KANGIQLINIQ (RANKIN INLET)
Cluster of Faces, early-mid 1970s

stone, 6.75 x 10.5 x 8 in (17.1 x 26.7 x 20.3 cm)
unsigned.ESTIMATE: $4,000 / $6,000

Provenance
A Toronto Estate.

Images of heads or faces are quite unusual in Kavik’s oeuvre, certainly much less common than his depictions of single figures or mothers and children. We suspect that Kavik saw the multiple head compositions that his fellow Rankin Inlet sculptor John Tiktak had begun carving in the late 1960s and decided to try his hand at making them. He may also have become aware of similar works being carved in Arviat around the same time.

Cluster of Faces turned out to be a very pleasing composition. The contrast between the relatively finished overall shape of the sculpture – the matrix – and the raw, gouged features of the faces themselves is dramatic and very effective. The style of the gouging is highly distinctive, and rare even in Kavik’s oeuvre. The artist may have borrowed the concept but he made it very much his own. We are impressed.



References
For similar compositions by John Tiktak see George Swinton, Tiktak: Sculptor from Rankin Inlet, N.W.T. (Winnipeg: Gallery One-One-One, University of Manitoba, 1970), cats. 37, 41 and 48; see also George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92) figs. 649, 651 and 656. For another rare example by Kavik see First Arts Auctions, December 2020, Lot 136.