Description
Seagull Feeding Its Young by Leah Qumaluk from Povungnituk. Leah was born in 1934 to Raina Nuluki from the Belcher Islands and Samisa Sala from Kuujjuarapik, Leah Qumaluk settled in Puvirnituq with her husband, Josie Qumaluk, in the mid 1950s.
WHEN AND HOW SHE GOT STARTED
Actively involved with the Puvirnituq print shop since its inception, Qumaluk worked as both a printer and an artist from the early 1960s. Her work was first publicly recognized in 1962, when one of her prints was featured in the first release of the annual Povungnituk print collection.
INFLUENCES
Qumaluk married into a famous family of carvers when she wed Josie Qumaluk as a young woman. Daughter-in-law to the well-known sculptor Tania the Elder and sister-in-law to Eli, Umajualu, Levi, and Eisapi Qumaluk, Leah was undoubtedly inspired by the steady production of artwork that surrounded her.
MEDIA
Although best known for her expressive works on paper, Qumaluk also produced a handful of carvings. While the bulk of her oeuvre consists of stonecut prints, she also experimented in batik in the early 1970s and with stencil work in the late 1970s to the early 1980s.
THEMES
Drawing mainly on a large repertoire of Inuit myths and legends, Qumaluk tended to focus on the portrayal of various elements from these well known stories. Unusual, mischievous spirits such as the larger-than-life bird figure, Tatigak, are often featured in her pieces and are balanced by more staid images of commonplace activities, such as hunting and scenes of camp life.
UNIQUENESS
A pioneer in the field of printmaking in Puvirnituq, Qumaluk was one of the few people involved with the print shop from its inception in 1962, staying almost until its closure in 1989. As both printer and artist Qumaluk had, wrote Janet Berlo (1989: 307), the unique distinction of being “an artist who often controls all aspects of her own graphics, from initial idea to final printing; this puts her in an unusual category, shared by only a handful of other artists.”
SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS
A prolific artist and mentor in the Puvirnituq print shop, Qumaluk’s prints were included in 17 of the 20 annual print releases from that community. Her work has been featured in countless publications and has been exhibited in New York, Paris, and Belgium. It is held in private collections worldwide and in important national collections, such as those at the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
Among the first artists to attempt printmaking in her community, Qumaluk’s early work is surprisingly assured. The artist immediately began to tackle complex scenes that were highly charged and repeatedly featured violent imagery. Dogs are strangled; meat is vigorously sliced; bears attack with elongated claws and pointed tongues; animals and humans morph into otherworldly creatures. Her early work is, however, also peppered with less ominous scenes that quaintly depict the tasks of everyday life, images that would dominate much of her later work. By the 1980s, Qumaluk’s focus had shifted almost exclusively to domestic scenes and wildlife imagery, and her participation in the print shop as a printer far outweighed her output of original imagery. She resigned from the print shop in 1985, shortly after the death of her husband. Her work continues to be exhibited on a national level, and was most recently featured in Women of the Arctic at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse in Montreal in December 2010.
REFERENCES
Berlo, Janet Catherine
1989 “Inuit Women and Graphic Arts: Female Creativity and its Cultural Context,” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, vol. 9, no. 2: 293–315.
Myers [Mitchell], Marybelle, ed
.
1976 “A Brief History of printmaking in Arctic Quebec,” Povungnituk Print Catalogue. Montreal: La Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau-Québec, in collaboration with The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council.
1975 Povungnituk Print Catalogue. Montreal: La Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau-Québec.
From: http://art.avataq.qc.ca/artists/profile/leah-qumaluk
Seagull feeding Its young by Leah Qumaluk is a wonderful older print, representing a significant episode in Inuit Print making.
Biography Leah Qumaluk
Leah Qumaluk
Settlement: Povungnituk / Puvirnituq
(1934-2010) — E9-1721
Exhibitions
Arctic Quebec Print Collection *72
(annual collection)
Arctic Quebec Print Collection *74
(annual collection)
Arctic Quebec Print Collection II *74
(annual collection)
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Akenaton
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie Ombre et Lumiere
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie La Tour des Cardinaux
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Le Theatre
Art Inuit, la Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon
Art Inuit, la Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Les Chiroux, Centre Culturel de la Wallonie, Liege
Art Inuit, Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Galerie La Poutre, Marseille
Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1990
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Centre Culturel Canadien
Batik – Povungnituk
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
Chisel and Brush/Le ciseau et la brosse
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, presented at the General Assembly Building, United Nations
Crafts from Arctic Canada/Artisanat de l’arctique canadien
Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
Eskimo Fantastic Art
Gallery 111, School of Art, University of Manitoba
Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi
Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Inuit Art at Rideau Hall
Presented by Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Inuit Art in the 1970s
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959-1990
Arctic Artistry
Inuit Master Artists of the 1970s
Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961-1987
Arctic Artistry
Kunst van de Inuit Eskimo’s
Gemeentelijk Kunstcentrum Huis Hellemans
La deesse inuite de la mer/The Inuit Sea Goddess
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
Les Inuit du Nouveau-Quebec
Musee du Quebec
Povungnituk
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Povungnituk Print Collection *62
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *64
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *65
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *66
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *68
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *69 (for catalogue see Povungnituk Prints 1960-1970 Retrospective)
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *72
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *73
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *75
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *76
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *77
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *78
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *80
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *82
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *83
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *84
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *85
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection *86
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *64
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *66
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *73
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *75
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *76
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *77
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *80
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *82
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *83
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *85
(annual collection)
Povungnituk Print Collection (printmaker) *86
(annual collection)
Prints from Povungnituk 1962-1988
Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
Takamit – Canadian Eskimo Art: Selections from Private Collections and the Government of Canada
Organized by La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
The Art of the Eskimo
Newman Galleries
The Inuit Sea Goddess
Surrey Art Gallery, (organized to complement the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal exhibit of the same name)
The Way We Were – Traditional Eskimo Life
Snow Goose Associates
Things Made by Inuit
La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec
Women Who Draw: 30 Years of Graphic Art from the Canadian Arctic
Feheley Fine Arts
[L’art inuit] Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at Palais de l’Europe, le Touquet
[L’art inuit] Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai at St. Marcellin
Public Collections
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University
Kingston
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Victoria
Avataq Cultural Institute
Montreal
Bata Shoe Museum Foundation
Don Mills
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Hull
Confederation Centre of the Arts
Charlottetown
Confederation des caisses populaires et d’economie Desjardins
Levis
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College
Traverse City
McMaster University Art Gallery
Hamilton
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg
Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montreal
Montreal
Musee de la civilisation
Quebec City
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
Montreal
Musee du Quebec
Quebec City
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
Vancouver
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
Lethbridge
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg
