|
|
|
Dear friends,
Please visit us in person or online to see our new acquisitions. Of course, we can only highlight a fraction of our selections in newsletters and on the website. If you are looking for a particular artist, subject or community, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.
|
Sumer is icumen in, and so are new acquisitions
We have a number of new acquisitions, many of which have not yet been photographed and posted on the website. Come visit us and be the first to see them!
Pictured at the right is a stunning large Barnabus Arnasungaaq hunter. He stands 10 1/2 inches high, and 11 1/2 inches across. He is the incarnation of the Inuit who lived on the land -- strong and resourceful. Barnabus Arnasungaaq was born in 1924, and is one of the very few first-wave Inuit artists who are still alive. Working with the very hard local stone constrained Barnabus' artistic choices, but he produced powerful images.
Pictured at the left is an exceptional mother nursing a child by Johannesee Kalluk of Clyde River. The sculpture has beautiful details (including collarbones!) and a broad and expressive back. Carving was not introduced to Clyde River until around 1960, so this sculpture, which dates to the mid-1960s, represents the work of an early master in the community.
|
|
Continuing Exhibitions
All of our past exhibitions can still be seen online. Just click on the links below.
Drum dancing was central to Inuit celebrations. A drum dance might mark a birth, a boy's first hunt, a wedding, a funeral, or any other occasion that was important to the community.
 Views from the North: Drawings from Cape Dorset is an exhibition of original one-of-a-kind drawings from Cape Dorset. Cape Dorset drawings have evolved from being merely the starting point for prints to being fully realized works, with a wide range of styles and subject matter.
Yuungnaqpiallerput: The Way We Genuinely Live is a collection of "slice of life" sculptures, showing scenes from daily life. On the right is a brilliant Davidee Saumik carving of a woman softening a kamik, or boot, by chewing on it. It is truly a tour de force by an early master. The woman's elaborate hairdo is breathtakingly detailed, and Saumik has tackled head-on (literally) the problems of foreshortening posed by the boot.
|
|
|
June 28-September 21
Haida artist Charles Edenshaw (1839-1920) is recognized as one of the most innovative artists working on the west coast at the turn of the twentieth century. This exhibition offers a complete overview of Edenshaw's work, presenting a wide range of the objects that he created during his lifetime, from traditional objects that he made for family members to elaborately carved model poles, platters and other objects produced for trade with Europeans. If you are interested in Northwest Coast art, you should make a trip to Toronto just to see it.
|
|
|
We can help you build your library
 We have a selection of books that will enhance your appreciation of your collection. They include cornerstones like George Swinton's seminal "Sculpture of the Inuit," Leslie Boyd Ryan's comprehensive "Cape Dorset Prints: A Retrospective," Aldona Jonaitis' excellent survey "Art of the Northwest Coast," and Alan Wardwell's definitive "Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait." They also include a number of published collections and more specialized books. For a complete list, click here. |
|
|
About Us
Alaska on Madison is a gallery of indigenous art of Alaska and Canada run by collectors for collectors. We feature Inuit art of the twentieth and twenty-first century Canadian Arctic, two-thousand-year-old objects from the Old Bering Sea cultures, and nineteenth century art from the Northwest Coast peoples and Yup'ik Eskimos. Our collection ranges from museum-quality works to more modest but still excellent works for private collectors, whether novice or sophisticated.
Baffled by syllabic signatures? Learn how to interpret them by using our guide, Deciphering Inuktitut Signatures, and our Inuit Artist Search Tool.
Regular gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 1:00 - 6:30 pm, but please check with us first if you are planning to arrive late in the day (see personal note above).
Visit our website
|
|
|
|
|
