Trusting our Instincts

Over the many years of picking, we have been fortunate to acquire several pieces of art from international artists. As with all of the items we sell, we buy what we love and would display in our home. Doing so has allowed us to develop an instinct for spotting quality art; an instinct that was recently challenged.

When we first spotted a print online for sale which was described as an ‘Inuit Stone Cut Print’, we were intrigued and began to learn more about the artist and decided this was a piece of Canadian art that we should own. As with any online buy, we trusted our instincts that the piece was an authentic original by an Inuit Artist from Cape Dorset.

Once we brought the print home, we naturally looked at it through a loop and were shocked and disappointed to see that the paper was commercially printed. Had we bought a copy of a print? Fortunately, the print had a newspaper article attached on the reverse which was a feature article on the artist which answered that very question.

In the late 1950s and early 1960’s, The Department of Northern Affairs worked with Inuit Artists in Cape Dorset by providing them not only with heated buildings to work in, but also paper and inks. The paper was usually fine handmade Japanese paper. Previously, these artists were Soapstone Sculptors and became internationally famous for their work. The art of Stone Cut Prints was introduced to them in 1959 and they quickly became experts.

Once we realized that the actual Stone Cut Print was laid out on commercial paper as part of the printing process, we looked at the black figures under the loop and noticed they were printed on top of the paper. At that point, we realized that not only were our instincts correct, but more importantly, we now knew we had an original 1960 Stone Cut Print titled ‘Bird Spirits’ by Napachee PootooGook (1938-2002), a well known Inuit Sculptor who was one of the first Stone Cut artists trained in this wonderful art form.

Always trust your instincts.