Lot 110
PUDLO PUDLAT (1916-1992) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Seals on Ice-floes, Airplanes Above, mid 1970s

acrylic wash, coloured pencil, and black ink on heavy wove BFK Rives watermarked paper, 22 x 30 in (55.9 x 76.2 cm)
signed, "ᐸᓗ".

Provenance
Private Collection, Australia.

In the mid 1970s, a period of experimentation with acrylic paints took place in Kinngait, sparked by visiting artist K.M. Graham. Pudlo Pudlat greeted this new medium with enthusiasm and quickly mastered it, often incorporating coloured pencil and ink into his acrylic paintings. Many of the artist’s favourite subjects are found here: airplanes, telephone poles, wires, houses, and seals. All appear where they should, in the sea, on the land and in the sky, drawn in pen and coloured pencil. It is however the superb use of acrylic paint, particularly in the energetic sky, that enlivens and brightens this scene, resulting in a rich, dynamic landscape.

References

For a discussion of Pudlo’s use of acrylic wash, see Marion E. Jackson and Judith M. Nasby, Contemporary Inuit Drawings (Guelph, ON: MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, 1987), p. 89. For similar works, see Susan J. Gustavison, Imaak Takujavut: Paintings from Cape Dorset (Kleinberg, ON: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1996), p. 73; Marie Routledge et al., Pudlo: Thirty Years of Drawing (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1990), p. 95.