An Inuk Holding a Beluga Whale Tail and a Knife

Twamie Okaitok, Inuit / Canadian, 1900 - 1963
Canadian Inuit
Eastern Arctic
Arctic

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1950s

Soapstone, possibly darkened with soap

Overall: 5 11/16 × 2 15/16 × 1 9/16 in. (14.5 × 7.5 × 4 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Sherman P. and Anne L. Haight Arctic Collection

168.94.24437

Geography

Place Made: Puvirnituq (Povungnituk), Nunavik, Canada, North America

Period

20th century

Object Name

Sculpture

Research Area

Native American

Sculpture

Native American: Arctic-Central and Eastern

On view

Inscriptions

Incised, E9-1452; sticker: 27k6976l (?); collector's sticker: S27 removed

Label

These sculptures depict different moments after a whale hunt. In one, a hunter prepares a cut of whale meat; in the other, a person bites into a portion of food, possibly maktak. Maktak consists of raw whale skin and blubber and is a foundational part of the traditional Inuit diet and food practice. Inuit communities continue to hunt whale today, which involves participation from everyone, after which the whale meat and oil are shared among families and neighbors. In some Inuit world views, food is treated as communal property, and the sharing of hunting responsibilities and food is seen as essential to communal care.

Course History

Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Charis Boke, Summer 2024

First Year Student Enrichment Program, Rachel Obbard, Summer 2024

Exhibition History

From the Field: Tracing Foodways Through Art, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 8-November 3, 2024.

Tradition and Transformation: Twentieth Century Inuit Art from the Collection of the Hood Museum of Art, Gene Y. Kin Class of 1985 Gallery, Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 22, 2014-December 6, 2015.

Provenance

Collected by Sherman Post Haight (1889-1980) and Anne Pardee Lyon Haight (1891-1977), New York, New York, about 1962; given to the Stefansson Collection, Dartmouth College Library, 1962; transferred to the present collection, 1968.

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