Lot 88
JOHN KAVIK (1897-1993) KANGIQLINIQ (RANKIN INLET)
Pot with Five Figures, early 1970s

unglazed ceramic, 6 x 4.75 x 4.75 in, (15.2 x 12.1 x 12.1 cm)
unsigned.

Provenance
Albrecht Collection, Scottsdale, AZ;
A Montreal Collection.

Kavik formed his large and small ceramic pots using the coil method. Here he most likely fashioned each of the small human figures separately, then applied his little “sculptures” to the sides of the pot. Both the charming Gumby-like individual figures and the finished pot have a wonderfully primal feeling that relates very closely to the artist’s small stone carvings and his drawings. Like many of Kavik’s small pots, this one is bisque fired only; only glazed pots would have undergone a second firing.

References

For similar examples of figural ceramic pots by Kavik see Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum (Phoenix: Heard Museum/Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2006), fig. 124; and Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2013, Lot 139. For a larger-scale example see Christine Lalonde and Natalie Ribkoff, ItuKiagatta!: Inuit Sculpture from the Collection of the TD Bank Financial Group (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2005), cat 25, p. 54.