Parr

Canadian, 1893-1969

Untitled (Hunting), 1963

Graphite on paper

45.9 (ht) x 61.2 (wi) cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; The Swinton Collection

G-76-761

Categories:

Drawing, Inuit

Parr led a traditional, nomadic existence for most of his life, but this changed when Terry Ryan, the newly-hired art advisor for West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative in Cape Dorset, visited his camp in 1961 and encouraged him to create drawings. Parr began filling the pages of the large sketch pad Ryan left with him. In frail health, Parr moved to Cape Dorset, and in the last eight years of his life produced more than 2,000 drawings. Thirty-five prints have been created from his drawings and one was reproduced for a Canadian postage stamp in 1977. His shadowy, silhouetted human figures and animals convey a sense of the history and universality of hunting cultures. Compositions are carefully balanced with solid, abstracted forms and negative space, while strong, gestural lines give vitality and energy to his hunters, animals, and family groupings.