Drawing H

Line of men

Notes on content:

Elizabeth Hutchinson (instructor) and Sarah Diver (student)–As is noted elsewhere by Sarah Diver, this drawing gives a clear indication of the importance of the Atigi (parka) in communicating Inupiaq identity.  In this drawing, eleven men move together in a line, holding their bodies in the same position and stepping forward with their left feet.  While their body positions are uniform, suggesting that this is a formal procession, each figure is individualized by the depiction of their stature, facial features and, most particularly, the details of their clothing.  The four men at the front of the procession have the most elaborate parkas, and they bear wolf heads on their hoods, suggesting they played the central roles in the ceremonial.  The artist took care to depict the distinctions in their faces as well as to trace differences in their leggings and footwear.  The other figures in the procession are rendered with less detail, but they are still presented with distinctive parkas–each with a different amount of fur outlining the face, some bearing red trim, and others with hood roots.  In taking this kind of care with the drawing, it appears that the artist was not simply interested in providing visual variety.  Rather, the drawing references a vivid memory of a specific event and honors the participants by making a record of their appearance.

Notes on form/style:

Elizabeth Hutchinson (instructor)– It is particularly interesting to note how the artist squeezed in the eleventh figure.  Drawn only in pencil, not ink, the figure appears as if it is an afterthought–a correction to the original composition upon remembering the presence of one more dancer.  But the way in which the figure’s back breaks the lefthand frame of the drawing adds a sense of energy and motion to the image.  It is as if squeezing this figure into the picture pushes the other dancers forward, giving energy to their stiff steps.  By recalling the motion that is the essential component of the ceremonial procession, the artist puts Inupiat values into conversation with the Euro-American concept of the depiction of volumetric space–a mainstream value signaled by the artist’s slightly imperfect use of foreshortening in the rendering of the men’s overlapping legs.

On the verso: