Dance
Helen Kalvak, Inuit / Canadian, 1901 - 1984
Canadian Inuit
Central Arctic
Arctic
1972
Pen on paper
Image: 18 × 23 1/2 in. (45.7 × 59.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Jane and Raphael Bernstein
2011.64.19
Geography
Place Made: Ulukhaktok, Inuvik, Canada, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Drawing
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Arctic-Central and Eastern
Drawing
Not on view
Inscriptions
Signed, in graphite, lower left: KALVAK; inscribed, in grphite, loower left: 7?; Embossed: Holman chop [ulu with word HOLMAN]
Label
Helen Kalvak is known for her distinctive depictions of shamanism and animals communicating with people. Her father was a respected angakuq, or shaman, and passed much of his special knowledge down to her—knowledge she shared through her artistic works. In the print, above, which may depict an Inuit morality tale cautioning against cannibalism, even in the face of starvation, the head with wings attached represents the man eater. Birds are commonly depicted as carrying spirits into the afterlife, which may indicate the man eater has died. In the drawing, below, the central shaman figure wears a dance hat made of sealskin, with the pelt of an ermine attached to the bill of a loon at the top. A woman in the background carries a child in the hood of her amautik, or woman’s coat. It is possible she may be singing or chanting and that the scene is taking place indoors, because she is shown kneeling. From the 2021 exhibition A Legacy for Learning: The Jane and Raphael Bernstein Collection, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Katherine W. Hart, Senior Curator of Collections and Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming; John R. Stomberg Ph.D, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director; Jessica Hong, Associate Curator of Global Contemporary Art; and Melissa McCormick, Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at Harvard University
Course History
SART 20/SART 71, Drawing II/Drawing III, Jack Wilson, Fall 2022
Studio Art 15.02, Drawing 1, Jack Wilson, Fall 2023
Studio Art 15.02, Drawing I, Jack Wilson, Winter 2024
Exhibition History
Inuit Art
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Legacy for Learning: The Jane and Raphael Bernstein Collection, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 4, 2021–February 6, 2022.
Publication History
John R. Stomberg, A Legacy for Learning: The Jane and Raphael Bernstein collection; Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art, 2021, Plate 29, p.54, listed p.99.
Provenance
Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; sold to Jane and Raphael Bernstein, Ridgewood, New Jersey, September 1, 1973; lent to present collection, 2011; given to present collection, 2013.
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