Kinngait (Cape Dorset)
(b. 1944)
(b. 1944)
Born in 1944 in Salluit, Nunavik, QC, Kumakuluk Saggiak moved several times before settling in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU. His green- and black-stone sculptures are representative of the region’s materials, though his creations are unique in style. Saggiak’s dramatic animals with their graceful curvatures suggest future movement and flight. A prolific exhibitor throughout his career, Saggiak’s work has appeared at the Lippel Gallery (1965) in Montreal, Quebec, the National Gallery of Canada (1967) in Ottawa, Ontario, and across the United States as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s touring Inuit sculpture show (1979–1981). Saggiak was also the recipient of several high-profile commissions. His work was introduced to international audiences when he was invited, along with Elijah Pootoogook, to produce a mural in Montreal depicting life in the North for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67. In 1980, Saggiak was asked by Public Works Canada to develop low-relief carving designs for the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. Saggiak is represented in several private and institutional collections including at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba and the TD Corporate Art Collection.
About
Kumakuluk Saggiak has become a representational figure for a generation of Inuit artists who celebrated traditional themes as well as developed individual and sophisticated carving styles. He is known for his unique carvings of birds and his innovative compositions, which would often make the most of his material while showcasing his skillful carving.
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.
