Paulatuk, #0250, carved and polished gray stone, unsigned, retains ink inscribed Canadian Eskimo Trade-Mark (Igloo Tag).

9 1/2 x 21 x 8 in.

From the Estate of the late Linda Kornberg, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Inuit artist Abraham Anghik Ruben was born in 1951 in a camp south of Paulatuk, Northwest Territories and east of the Mackenzie River Delta. He attended the Native Arts Centre at the University of Alaska studying under Ronald Senungetuk. Throughout the 1970s, Abraham pursued a career as an artist working in the varied media of sculpture, jewelry, prints and drawings. He would soon catch the attention of art dealers across Canada including Jack Pollock who showed his sculptures at his gallery in Toronto in a series of solo exhibitions.
Abraham’s own great-grandparents, noted shamans Apakark and Kagun, came from the Bering Sea region of Alaska. In 1928, Captain Larson of the St. Roche spent the winter in Langton Bay with Abraham’s grandfather and his family. These historical family connections inspired Abraham’s interest in people of the Nordic countries and inspired the narrative impetus behind many of his bronze and stone sculptures: "My sculptures portraying Viking Norse myths, stories and legends have Norse decorative lines and motifs. These are designs that I have adapted and changed to enhance the visual impact and to convey the sense of belonging to that place and time. As a storyteller, I have sought to bring life to these ancient voices from a time when these two northern people held a reverence for the land and for all living things therein that provided sustenance and survival."
Ruben's works have exhibited internationally, including a prestigious solo exhibitions such as at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC (2012-2013); the Dennos Museum Center, Michigan (2017); Laguild-The Guild, Montreal (2017); Museum Cerny, Switzerland (2014); and many others.

A few scuffs and scratches, otherwise good estate condition.

$2,000 - 3,000