Nunavik
(1930–1989)
(1930–1989)
Annie Niviaxie (1930-1989) was born near Inukjuak, Nunavik, and lived in the area until she married Josephie Niviaxie and moved to Kuujjuaraapik, Nunavik. She was a multidisciplinary artist who worked primarily as a stone sculptor, although she also wove baskets, made dolls and produced sealskin and felt wall hangings. She first learned to carve by watching others. Her early work was experimental, but the art she produced in her thirties—generally considered the height of her career—is complex and dynamic, with figures shown in multiple and differing poses. Her later work, by contrast, largely features the single static figures that were popular at the time.
She is considered one of the most recognizable female artists from Kuujjuaraapik. Her work was exhibited extensively worldwide and was included at Expo ’67 in Montreal, QC. Her work can be found in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON and three of her carvings are in the collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
About
In this lyrical sculpture by Annie Niviaxie, fluid lines of the amautik surround mother and child. Rounded contours of the sculpture are emphasized in the circular embrace of the mother’s arms around the child held in front of her and the echoing positioning of the child’s own arms.
About
In 1971, the monumental Jerry Twomey Collection of 4,000 Inuit carvings was acquired by the WAG. Twomey was a geneticist and a co-founder of Winnipeg’s T&T Seeds. Beginning in 1952 and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he collected sculpture from virtually every art-producing Inuit community. He was fascinated by the distribution of artistic talent within families and across generations and collected the work of individual artists in depth.
In 1969, Twomey decided to retire from the seed business and move to California to breed roses full-time. The disposition of his collection became a matter for intense negotiation with a number of museums and collectors. George Swinton persuaded then Premier Edward Schreyer of the collection’s importance and in August 1971 Schreyer quickly signed an Order-in-Council to raise $185,000, or two-thirds of the funds required to purchase the collection for the WAG. In June 1972, James Richardson, then federal minister of supply and services, presented a cheque for the remaining $75,000 at a ceremony at the Gallery. To celebrate both the opening of the new Gallery building on Memorial Boulevard and the acquisition of the Twomey Collection, a small show was installed in 1972. In 2003, a comprehensive WAG exhibition and catalogue revealed the incomparable record of the development of Inuit art in the 1950s and 1960s provided by the Twomey Collection.
