Nationality Canadian (Inuit) Died 18 December 2002 | Known for printmaking, drawing Children Annie Pootoogook | |
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Born June 26, 1938 ( 1938-06-26 ) Sarruq Island camp, Northwest Territories Books Three Women, Three Generations: Drawings by Pitseolak Ashoona, Napatchie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona | ||
Napachie pootoogook true north exhibition
Napachie Pootoogook (June 26, 1938 – December 18, 2002) was a Canadian Inuit graphic artist who produced an important and unique body of work over her career.
Contents
Biography
The daughter of acclaimed artist Pitseolak Ashoona, Napachie Pootoogook was born in the Sarruq Island camp near south Baffin Island. Her father Ashoona died while she was six or seven years old. In her early years, Napachie, along with her mother and five brothers, lived a traditional lifestyle and relied on the support of the Inuit community to survive. She was encouraged to draw by her mother, developing her own unique style and viewpoint.
Although she originally did not wish to marry because of the difficulties that she saw in her parents' marriage, Pootoogook later married Eegyvudluk Pootoogook, an Inuit printmaker and carver, in an arranged marriage. The couple moved to Cape Dorset when she was in her early twenties. Napachie and her husband had eleven children, although several of her children died young. Two children died when their house burned down in the early 1960s, and their five-year-old daughter drowned soon after.
Work
Napachie started doing drawings for James Archibald Houston when she was twenty-five years old. She contributed to fourteen Cape Dorset print collections since 1960, and produced over 5000 original drawings. Her art documents traditional Inuit life and culture, as well as the changes brought on by the introduction of Christianity and other outside influences. Near the end of her life, her work portrayed local events and stories about people from the Cape Dorset area.
Death and legacy
Pootoogook died at Cape Dorset at the age of 64.
Her work is included in the collections of the Inuit Art Centre of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada, as well as private and public collections in Canada and the United States.
Her daughter Annie Pootoogook was an important contemporary Inuit artist.