Featured Large Inuit (?) painting

Well, I found this painting in an out-of-town antique shop here in Oregon and I really, really like it. It's a bit haunting, but the composition is super interesting to me. The realism of the face is amazing.

Maddeningly, there does not seem to be any signature, including on the edges.

It's large: appx 30" x 40" (75 cm x c. 100 cm). Soda can for size in one pic.

-any wild guesses as to who the artist might be?

-what's the shape on the wood frame on the lower right? is the stone structure a home, or something else?


Maybe @Mark London will have a comment or a tip for researching further?

 

Seems someone used this: https://www.santafeartauction.com/auction-lot/edward-s.-curtis-tahopik-diomede-1928_4F14E8BA67 as a reference.

 

It might be Inuit but I have my doubts. It could be Alaskan or Siberian but it also has a Mongolian vibe.

 

Wow-- that's sure the man. Thanks!

Diomede Island-- half way between Alaska and Russia.

 

Company started 1965. Their canvases are expensive.

https://masterpiecearts.com/

Debora

 

Looks like an overturned umiak, as shown in another Curtis photograph at Little Diomede Island -

https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/village-at-little-diomede

 

Spot on, @2manybooks. Umiak.

 

Well done piece.What do you think the medium is-acrylic,oil ?

 

Not sure. Perhaps acrylic? It's relatively 'thin' on the canvas--- not thicker as with some oil paintings.

 

That artist, I think did an amazing job on the rocks behind subject!!!!

 

nice find......

 

Wonder if the artist worked with other Curtis photographs.

Debora

 

Yeah that's a good idea. I've been trying to search online, but Curtis's name is so 'dominant' it seems to preclude and block out other artists....

 

I've got/had a few Curtis prints,mezzos,gravures (?)-& there's so much that trying to research the guy is insane.Like looking up opinions on Beatles vinyl !

 

Ok-- here's a third Curtis photo, also from Diomede Island and dated 1928:



https://www.ushistoricalarchive.com/product/home-structure-diomede-1928/

Does anyone know copyright law on Curtis images? Could using his imagery be perhaps why this painting's unsigned?

Edit: quick google search confirms that Curtis images are public domain, so scratch that thought.

 

So someone has updated / combined these three sepia images.

I know 'reclaiming' Curtis's (and other white artists') historical imagery is somewhat of a trend these days.

I'm wondering if any of you read an environmental message from this painting I've found. The barrenness, including the lack of drying fish etc on the whale bone racks, combined with the straight-on look of the man, give me a plaintive, perhaps even accusatory vibe. Not even a clump of grass or moss! As in, collectively-generated climate change has made traditional sustenance-based lifestyles increasingly impossible.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

But here he is, in my dining room, staring at me.

(Any thoughts appreciated!)

 

I can see that message in the piece.What the painter had in mind I don't know-but you could read that into it.
Here's a famous 1973 'Keep America Beautiful' ad about pollution featuring Iron Eyes Cody-

 

I like this piece I think you are correct on the message from this painting

Here is an article on Climate Change for Little Diomede Island from 2021










https://alaskamagazine.com/authentic-alaska/wildlife-nature/alarm-bells-for-little-diomede-island/

 

Thanks @cxgirl. It needs a frame but it's probably a long-term 'keeper' for me.

Interesting article. Thanks for that too. People who live in precarious places really can more clearly see these big climate changes. Probably no one is fully insulated from climate change, but I feel like I and many of the people around me are more insulated than others, and we're therefore more oblivious. That's a danger.