Johnny Inukpuk (
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
ᔭᓇ ᐃᓇ; 1911–2007) was an important
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
artist, known as a sculptor and storyteller. His son
Charlie Inukpuk
Charlie Inukpuk (born 1941) is an Inuk carver from Nunavik.
Early life and education
He was born in 1941, in Kotak, a place north of Inukjuak. His father Johnny Inukpuk was an artist; he was the eldest son. He learned to carve as a teenager, fro ...
is also a sculptor.
Career
Johnny Inukpuk began carving in the early 1950s while living on the land.
James Houston, an artist, author and filmmaker who played an important role in promoting the recognition of Inuit artists, encouraged him to continue.
His themes are childrearing, domestic and hunting activities.
Inukpuk’s wife, Mary, had a hare-lip, which he depicted in several of his sculptures of mother-and-child. The drilled eyes of his earlier works were eventually replaced by soapstone and ivory inlay; black eyes were made from melted vinyl records.
In 1953, Inukpuk began carving green stone. His characteristically shiny, round heads began to appear in 1954.
His work titled ''Hunter'', possibly the first large figurative piece of Inuit sculpture,
was part of a collection of Inuit art that was acquired by the TD Bank Financial Group in 1951. His work received recognition as part of an exhibition of Inuit art known as ''The Coronation Exhibition'' held at Gimpel Fils in London, England in 1953.
''Mother with Child Playing String Games'' (c.1955, National Gallery of Canada) is an example of his strong approach, careful workmanship, and naturalistic detail. In 1973, Johnny Inukpuk was made a member of the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880.
History 1880 to 1890
The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...
.
Inukpuk's work is held in the permanent collections of several museums, including the
Art Gallery of York University
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, the
Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, the
University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, the
Art Gallery of Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...
, and the
University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
.
References
Bibliography
Johnny Inukpuk's biographyon Inuit.uqam.ca
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Inukpuk, Johnny
1911 births
2007 deaths
Artists from Quebec
Inuit sculptors
Canadian male sculptors
20th-century Canadian sculptors
Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
People from Nunavik
Inuit from Quebec
20th-century Canadian male artists