Untitled (St. Lawrence Island Man with Pipe)

NameDrawing/Painting

CultureIñupiaq

Date1963

Place madeSitŋasuaq (Nome), Alaska, United States, North America

MediumPencil, ink and watercolor on card stock

DimensionsOVERALL: 11" x 9"
IMAGE: 9.75" x 8.75"

Credit LineMuseum of International Folk Art, purchase with funds donated by Suzi Jones, Skip and Ildy Poliner, Rene Donaldson, Edward and Maria Gale, Edelma and David Huntley, Bruce and Mary Anne Larsen, Tom and Jane O’Toole, Friends of Folk Art, Sandy Meseck, Carmella Padilla, and Susan Arkell, A.2022.13.1

Object numberA.2022.13.1

ProvenancePrivate Collection, Pennsylvania

DescriptionPainting on paper of Iñupiaq man with seal fur parka, a pipe, and traditional tools in each hand standing in front of traditional hut, and a dog in the background. Consists of mainly blacks, greys, and browns, with artist's signature blush color for the sky.

One of Alaska’s best-known early visual
artists, James Kivetoruk (Kivitauraq)
Moses (1903–1982), rendered subjects in
exquisite detail, sometimes with lines
or brushstrokes delineating individual
hairs in a fur parka. Moses became an
artist after an injury sustained in a plane
crash in 1953 prevented him from working
as a subsistence hunter, trapper, and
reindeer herder. Instead, he rendered
these experiences—as well as ceremonies
and portraits—with colored pencil,
ink, and watercolor (from exhibition label text).