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Qinuajua, Eli Sallualu

Qinuajua, Eli Sallualu

Nunavik

(1937–2004)

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Qinuajua, Eli Sallualu

(1937–2004)

Eli Sallualu Qinuajua (1937-2004) was born at Iisisjuvik and has lived in the Puvirnituq area all his life, except for two periods spent in a southern sanatorium for tuberculosis in the 1960s. When he returned home, he found that he no longer had the physical endurance to hunt, and he turned to carving to support his family. As a youth, he had spent much time with his father, Qinuajua, who was considered one of the greatest story-tellers of the region. From him, Qinuajua learned the ancient legends, and himself became an accomplished actor, mimic, and story-teller. However, his carvings go beyond the traditional stories. He has explained: “What I do best is carvings of things that come from inside my head and which are difficult to understand.”

In 1967, he won the top prize of $50 in a carving competition held in Puvirnituq. The competition was in response to carvers’ complaints that they were tired of just carving animals and people all the time. In this competition, they were encouraged to carve anything they wanted. He and several other carvers in Puvirnituq continued to create representations of dreams, fears, and spirits and many of those in the WAG collection were featured in an exhibition, Inuit Fantastic Art in 2014.

Spirit

c. 1968
stone
27.3 x 28.3 x 11.1 cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Twomey Collection, with appreciation to the Province of Manitoba and Government of Canada
1967.71

  • Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Spirit

    About

    Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Spirit

    Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Spirit

    Qinuajua won first prize in a carving contest organized in Puvirnituq in 1967. The object of that competition was to depict takushurngnaituk, or ‘things that have never been seen before.’ The contest inspired an entire ‘school’ of surrealist art, with Qinuajua as its main practitioner. Its influence spread to artists in other Nunavik (Arctic Quebec) communities and continued into the 1980s.


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  • The Jerry Twomey Collection of Inuit Sculpture

    About

    The Jerry Twomey Collection of Inuit Sculpture

    The Jerry Twomey Collection of Inuit Sculpture

    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.


  • Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Spirit

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    Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Spirit

    Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Spirit