BARNABUS ARNASUNGAAQ (1924-2017) QAMANI'TUAQ (BAKER LAKE)
Muskox, c. 2000
stone, 8 x 14.75 x 5.5 in (20.3 x 37.5 x 14 cm)
unsigned.

ESTIMATE: $6,000 — $9,000

Provenance
Images Art Gallery, Toronto;
Acquired from the above by the Present Private Collection, Toronto.

We have already discussed how Barnabus produced a plethora of muskoxen over a fifty-year span while somehow managing to avoid the formulaic (see Vol. One, Lot 73). It is interesting to take a step back and look at this oeuvre to see how his signature subject evolved over time. It is important to understand that the carving stone preferred by most Qamani’tuaq artists is amongst the hardest in the Arctic. The magnificent Muskox from 1973 featured on the cover of our July 2020 catalogue shows the work of an almost fifty-year-old Arnasungaaq physically capable of painstakingly chiseling hundreds of coarse guard hairs across the surface of the sculpture. In this fine example we see the same artist, now well into his seventies, concentrating on the overall essence of the subject instead of – perhaps literally – agonizing over every minute detail. Of course, by the time this piece was created Barnabus was able to avail himself of a variety of electric tools rarely used when he began his career. Here we see Barnabus ingeniously and economically using a grinding wheel to produce the guard hairs. The effect is wonderful, proving that as he aged and declined physically, Barnabus learned to work smarter, not harder!