Napachie Pootoogook

NAPATCHIE POOTOOGOOK     (NAWPASHEE; NAWPACHEE; NAPACHEE; NEPACHEE; NAPACHIE)

Date of Birth:    1938                                                     Male/Female:    Female e7-1104                        
Place of Birth:   Sako Camp, South Baffin Island; Resides, Cape Dorset

Mother:            

Father:              Pitseolak Ashoona
                                                                                                                                               

“Born at Sako, a traditional Inuit camp on the Southwest coast of Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Napatchie Pootoogook is the only surviving daughter of one of Inuit art’s most important figures, Pitseolak Ashoona.  Along with her sculptor brothers, [Namoonai, Koomwartok, Ottochie], Kiawak and Kaka Ashoona and her graphic artist sisters-in-law, Mayureak and Sorosiluto Ashoona, Napatchie belongs to a family with a strong artistic identity that has contributed significantly to the reputation of Cape Dorset art and the printmaking studio of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative.  In the mid-1950’s while living at Kiaktuuq, she married Eegyvukluk Pootoogook (b. 1931), son of the important camp leader, Pootoogook, who has since become of the main printers at the Cape Dorset studio.  Like her mother, Napatchie began drawing in the late 1950’s.  Since 1960 her work has been included in almost every annual collection of Cape Dorset prints.  Napatchie and her husband moved into Cape Dorset in 1965, where they have continued to live, except for a two-year stay in Iqaluit in the early 1970’s.

Although much of her early work, such as the print, “Eskimo Sea Dreams” (1960), presents a lyrical, dream-like reflection of Inuit beliefs in the spirit world, the main thrust of her prints and drawings since the mid-1970’s have been more concerned with recording traditional life, clothing and local Inuit history.  In prints such as, “Atchealda’s Battle” (1978), “The First Policeman I Saw” (1978), “Nascopie Reef” (1989) and “Whaler’s Exchange” (1989), Napatchie uses a vigorous, energetic figurative style to bring to life significant events of the past.  Like her sister-in-law, Sorosiluto, Napatchie participated in the acrylic painting/drawing workshops established by the West Baffin Co-operative in 1976.  Her interest in landscape and Western notions of spatial composition would seem to grow out of this experience.  Most recently, Napatchie has been working directly in the lithographic medium and experimenting with life drawing as a preparatory stage toward the print image.”

                                                Marie Routledge
In “North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century:
A Biographical Dictionary”, 1995.

Napatchie’s work in recent years has focused on local history and stories about people and events in the Cape Dorset area, often with accompanying text to explain the circumstances.  She has amassed a unique and important body of work.  She is represented in this year’s annual collection by three prints which illustrate her narrative style and the importance of traditional culture and stories.*

*Except from the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative Biography. Annual Print collection 2000.

EXHIBITIONS:

1951                                                                
Eskimo Art
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
(illustrated brochure)

1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965,                            Cape Dorset Graphics
1967, 1970, 1977, 1978, 1979,                            (annual collection)
1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985                                                     (illustrated catalogue)
1989, 1990, 1993, 1996

December 1961                                                
Contemporary Eskimo Art
Gimpel Fils
London, England
(illustrated catalogue)

1967                                                                
The Eskimo Art Collection of the Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

January – February 1967                                   
Cape Dorset – A Decade of Eskimo Prints and Recent Sculpture
National Gallery of Canada
In cooperation with the Canadian Eskimo Arts Committee
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

April – May 1967                                              
Carvings and Prints by the Family of Pitseolak
Robertson Galleries
Ottawa, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

February – March 1968                                     
A Collection of Original Drawings by Cape Dorset Artists (in conjunction with Davidee Kavik Sculpture)
Lofthouse Galleries
Ottawa, Ontario
(illustrated brochure)

September – November 1969                            
The Eskimo
Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

1970                                                                
Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada:
First Collection
Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

January – February 1971                                   
The Art of the Eskimo
Simon Fraser Gallery
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia
(catalogue)

January – March 1972                                       
Eskimo Fantastic Art
Gallery 111, School of Art
University of Alberta
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

October 1975 – December 1977                        
Inuit Games/Inuit Pinguangit/Jeux des Inuit
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated brochure)

August 1978                                                     
Inuit Games and Contests: The Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
(illustrated catalogue)

November – December 1978                             
Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics
Jerusalem Artists’ House Museum
Jerusalem, Israel
(illustrated catalogue)

May – August 1979                                           
21 x 12 (Eskimo Drawing Exhibition)
Inuk 1 Gallery
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

July 1979 – October 1981                                 
Images of the Inuit: from the Simon Fraser Collection
Simon Fraser Gallery
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

January – March 1980                                       
Cape Dorset
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)

July – August 1981                                           
Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/
Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculture
National Gallery of Modern Art
Rome, Italy
(illustrated catalogue)

October – November 1983                                
The Cape Dorset Print
Presented at Rideau Hall by Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario

October – December 1983                                
Inuit Masterworks: Selections from the Collection of Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario

February 1984 – June 1986                               
Arctic Vision: Art of the Canadian Inuit
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Canadian Arctic Producers
Ottawa, Ontario
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

May – June 1986                                              
Northern Exposure: Inuit Images of Travel
Burnaby Art Gallery
Burnaby, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)

November 1986                                                
Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic
Arctic Artistry
Hamilton, Ontario

November – December 1986                             
Cape Dorset Prints and Sculpture
McMaster Art Gallery
Hamilton, Ontario

June – July 1987                                              
Works from the McCuaig Collection in the Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre
Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre
Sudbury, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

October 1987                                                   
Recent Acquisitions of Early Inuit Sculpture
Arctic Artistry
Hartsdale, New York, U.S.A.

November 1987                                                
Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961 – 1987
Arctic Artistry
Hartsdale, New York, U.S.A.

September 1988                                               
Canadian Prints from the McMaster Art Gallery Collection
McMaster Art Gallery
Hamilton, Ontario

November – December 1988                             
Inuit Women and their Art: Graphics and Wallhangings
Gallery 210
University of Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
(illustrated brochure)

November 1988 – April 1989                             
Night Spirits: Cape Dorset 1960 – 1965
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba

February – April 1989                                        
Spoken in Stone: An exhibition of Inuit Art
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Banff, Alberta
(tour)
(illustrated brochure)

August 1989                                                     
Art Inuit, la Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Chapelle de la Visitation,Thonon
Thonon, France

August – October 1989                                     
Inuit Graphic Art from Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba

December 1989                                                
Art Inuit, la Sculpture des Esquimaux du Canada
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Les Chiroux, Centre Culturel de la Walloni Liege
Belgium

June – September 1990                                    
Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959 – 1990
Arctic Artistry
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.A.

November – December                                     
Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1990
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Centre Cultureal Canadien
Paris, France

January 1991                                                    
Sojourns to Nunavut: Contemporary Inuit Art from Canada
At Bunkamura Art Gallery, presented by the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Tokyo, Japan
(tour)
(illustrated catalogue)

March – April 1991                                           
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Le Theatre
La Ciotat, France

April – May 1991                                              
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Palais de l’Europe
Le Touquet, France

May – June 1991                                             
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At La Halle aux Bles
Saint Malo, France

July 1991                                                         
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Chapelle de la Visitation
Thonon, France

July – August 1991                                           
Glaciopolis: Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Maison de Pesey
Les Arcs, France

December 1991 – March 1992                           
In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

February – April 1992                                        
Art Inuit
Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai
At Galerie Montador
Dieppe, France

June – July 1992                                              
Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic
Marion Scott Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)

May – June 1994                                              
Cape Dorset Revisited: a collection of previously unreleased prints, exhibited at selected commercial galleries, organized by
West Baffin Island Co-op
Cape Dorset, Northwest Territories

May 1994 – July 1995                                       
Cape Dorset Revisited
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

September – October 1994                               
Kunst van de Inuit Eskimo’s
Gemeentelijk Kunstcentrum
Huis Hellemans
Edegem, Belgium
(illustrated brochure)

October 1994 – September 1995                       
Isumavut: The Artistic  Expression of Nine Cape Dorset Women
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Hull, Quebec
(illustrated catalogue)

April – June 1995                                              
Exhibition of Inuit Art
Harbourfront Centre
Organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Guelph, Ontario

June 1995                                                        
Sunakutagnuvalautut: Things from the Past
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario

December 1995 – January 1996                         
Inuit Art: from the Collection of Maurice Yacowar
Collector’s Gallery
Calgary, Alberta

December 1995 – March 1996                           
Imaak Takujavut: Paintings from Cape Dorset
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario

March – June 1996                                           
Imaak Takujavut: The Way We See It
Paintings from Cape Dorset
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

May – June 1996                                              
Exhibition of Inuit Art
Glenhyrst Art Gallery
Organized by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Guelph
Brantford, Ontario

May – October 1996                                         
Elagiiqniq/Family
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Guelph, Ontario
(tour)

November 1997                                                
Graphite and Stone
Sculpture and Drawing: Baffin Artists in two mediums
Spirit Wrestler Gallery
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated catalogue)

October                                                           
Collection D’Estampes de Cape Dorset
Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
Montreal, Quebec
(brochure)

May – October 1999                                         
Three Women, Three Generations: Drawings by Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and Shuvenai Ashoona
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario
(illustrated catalogue)

June – September 2000                                    
Arctic Spirit: Canadian Inuit Sculpture
Boise State University
Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.

October 2000                                                   
Cape Dorset Print Collection 2000
West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative
Cape Dorset, Nunavut

November – December 2000                             
Paintings from Cape Dorset
The Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

April – May 2001                                              
Spirit of the Walrus
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario
(illustrated brochure)

June                                                                
Cross-Currents
Cape Dorset in the 1960’s
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario

January – February 2002                                   
Cape Dorset Prints: 1961 – 1976
The Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

April                                                                
Art by Women:
An investigation of Inuit Sculpture and Graphics
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario

April                                                                
Cape Dorset: First Generation Printmakers
The Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

2003                                                                
Cape Dorset Prints
(annual collection)
(illustrated catalogue)

January 2003                                                    
Then and Now: Inuit Prints from 1962 – 2002
Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
Vancouver, British Columbia
(illustrated brochure)

April                                                                
Women of the Ashoona Family: Inuit Print Retrospective
The Guild Shop
Toronto, Ontario

November 2004 – January 2005                         
Our Land: Contemporary Art from the Arctic
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

June 2005                                                        
Windows on Kinngait – The Drawings of Napatchie Pootoogook and Annie Pootoogook
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario

October – June 2005                                        
The Power of Dreams
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba

October, 2009 – January, 2010                          
Nunannguaq: In the Likeness of the Earth
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario        

May, 2010                                                       
Mothers in Inuit Art
Feheley Fine Arts
Toronto, Ontario

August, 2010 – January, 2011                           
Traditional Stories: Unikaaqtuat/
Modern Stories: Unkkaat
McMichael Canadian Collection
Kleinburg, Ontario

April, 2011                                                       
Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection
Art Gallery of Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
(Illustrated catalogue)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

October – November 2002                                
Napatchie Pootoogook: Drawings
The Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

November – December 2002                             
Napatchie Pootoogook: Drawings
The Albers Gallery of Inuit Art
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
(illustrated catalogue)

June – September 2004                                   
Napatchie Pootoogook
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(illustrated catalogue)

2005                                                                
Original Drawings by Napatchie Pootoogook
Home and Away
Kennebunkport, Maine, U.S.A.

COLLECTIONS:

Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
Clifford E. Lee Collection, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, Michigan, U.S.A.
Department of Foreign Affairs, Ottawa, Ontario
Fitzgerald Collection, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta
Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories
Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario
McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Simon Fraser Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
Teleglobe Canada, Montreal, Quebec
Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto, Ontario
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

HONOURS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND EVENTS:

1979     McClelland and Stewart Commission. Napatchie produced the commission lithograph, “Inuksuit”, which was included in the limited edition book, “Landmarks of Canadian Art”. This work is documented in the Cape Dorset Graphic annual catalogue, 1979.

SELECTED REFERENCES:

ARTS OF THE ESKIMO: PRINTS: /Ed. by Ernst Roch. Texts by Patrick Furneaux and Leo Rosshandler. Montreal, Quebec: Signum Press in association with Oxford University Press, Toronto, Ont., 1974.

Baird, Irene
LAND OF THE LIVELY ARTS. The Beaver, Autumn 1961. Pp. 12 – 21.

Berlo, Janet Catherine
AN EXHBITION, A BOOK AND AN EXAGGERATED REACTION: A review essay by Janet Catherine Berlo.  Inuit Art Quarterly: 10 (1), Spring 1995, pp. 26 – 36.

Berlo, Janet Catherine
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL IMPULSES AND FEMALE IDENTITY IN THE DRAWINGS OF NAPATCHIE POOTOOGOOK. Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 8, No.4, Winter 1993.

Blodgett, Jean
IN CAPE DORSET WE DO IT THIS WAY: THREE DECADES OF INUTI PRINTMAKING: Jean Blodgett/with essays by Heather Ardies, Leslie Boyd and Linda Sutheland. Kleinburg, Ont.: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1991.

Canada. Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources
CANADIAN ESKIMO ART. Ottawa, Ont.: Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, 1955.

Collinson, Helen
INUIT GAMES AND CONTESTS: The Clifford E. Lee Collection of Prints.  Edmonton, Alberta: The University of Alberta Collections, 1978.

Eber, Dorothy Harley
WHEN THE WHALERS WERE UP NORTH: Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic.
Kingston, Ont.: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1989.

Gautsche, Nancy
MYTH, MURDER AND MADNESS: Violence in Inuit Art. Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 3, Summer 1989, pp. 14 – 18.

Gillmor, Alison
THE ASHOONA FAMILY OF Cape Dorset. Inuit Art Quarterly, 10 (2), Summer 1995, pp. 38 – 39.

Gustavison, Susan J.
ARCTIC EXPRESSIONS: INUIT ART AND THE CANADIAN ESKIMO ARTS COUNCIL 1961 – 1989. Kleinburg, Ont.: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1994.

Houston, James A.
ESKIMO ARTISTS.  The Geographical Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 11, pp. 638 – 650.

Jackson, Marion E.
INUIT PRINTS: Impressions of a Culture in Transition. LSA 9 (1) :6 – 12, Fall (The University of Michigan), 1985.

Jackson, Marion E.
THE ASHOONAS OF CAPE DORSET. In Touch with Tradition. North/Nord, Vol. 29, No.3, Fall 1982, pp. 14 – 18.

Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre
WORKS FROM THE MCCUAIG COLLECTION IN THE LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY MSUEUM AND ARTS CENTRE. Sudbury, Ont.: The Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, 1987.

Leroux, Odette et alia
INUIT WOMEN ARTISTS: VOICES FROM CAPE DORSET: Edited by Odette Leroux, Marion E. Jackson and Minnie Aoudla Freeman. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994.

Lipton, Barbara
ARCTIC VISION: Art of the Canadian Inuit.  Ottawa, Ont.: Canadian Arctic Producers, 1984.

Marion Scott Gallery
WOMEN OF THE NORTH: AN EXHIBITION OF ART BY INUIT WOMEN OF THE CANADIAN ARCTIC: June 6 – July 11, 1992.  Vancouver, British Columbia: Marion Scott Gallery, 1992.

Pauktuutit
NAALATSIARLUTIT: A presentation of artwork by northern artists on spousal abuse. Ottawa, Ont.: [London and New York, 1975]

Ritchie, Carson I.A.
THE ESKIMO AND HIS ART. Toronto, Ont.: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1974. [London and New York, 1975].

Routledge, Marie
NAPATCHIE POOTOOGOOK (1938 - ). In North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary/Garland, 1995.

Ryan, Leslie Boyd
CAPE DORSET PRINTS: A Retrospective, Pomegranate, San Francisco, California, U.S.A., 2007.

West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative
DORSET 79. Toronto, Ont.: M.F. Feheley Publishers, 1979.

Winnipeg Art Gallery
CAPE DORSET. Winnipeg, Manitoba: The Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1979.