Tim Pitsiulak: Drawings and Prints From Cape Dorset

Boyd, a curator of Inuit art, successful surveys the work of Timmuuti “Tim” Pitsiulak (1967–2016), one of Canada’s most celebrated Inuit artists. Guiding the reader through Pitsiulak’s career, Boyd begins in 2002, when Pitsiulak moved to Cape Dorset, home to a thriving artistic community, to pursue graphic arts. Boyd shows how Pitsiulak’s work often alludes to ancient culture while still satisfying the tastes of the contemporary Canadian art market, as with the case of his amusing series of stonecut and stencil portraits of rabbits and weasels wearing manufactured parkas. The retrospective includes more than 70 reproductions of Pitsiulak’s work, often accompanied by the artist’s own commentary on individual pieces (“My best joy of life is hunting,” he writes next to a drawing of his cousin gathering seaweed). Readers will admire Pitsiulak’s depictions of everyday life in the North, including tundra landscapes, vibrant drawings of marine life, and Pitsiulak’s personal favorite, a colored-pencil sketch of his cousin gathering seaweed. This inviting art book pays homage to a talented artist while providing insight into modern Inuit culture. Color illus. [em](Mar.)[/em]

Correction: An earlier version of this review misquoted the author and incorrectly described one of his drawings.