Pudlo Pudlat
Pudlat was the first Inuit Artist to be honored with a retrospect of his work at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, titled Pudlo: Thirty Years of Drawing, which was on exhibit from 1990 to 1991. Many of his pieces are still showcased there today and held in major collections in Vancouver, BC; Toronto, ON; Montreal, QC; and the United States. In addition, Pudlat’s prints featured prominently in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Collections over several decades. Pudlat’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in Canada, the United States, and Europe, including at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba; Albert Gallery in San Francisco, CA; and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, ON, among many others.
“Pudlo’s works over the years demonstrate his keen visual sense, his versatility and innovativeness in subject matter and technique, tempered by his sense of humour — his knowledge of traditional life on the land and his acknowledgment of the changing times…Pudlo’s thinking/drawing process is a truly creative approach, done both consciously and unconsciously.
In the 1978 Cape Dorset print catalogue (p. 67) Pudlo talks about his drawing: “At times when I draw, I am happy, but sometimes it is very hard. I have been drawing a long time now. I only draw what I think, but sometimes I think the pencil has a brain too.”
*Jean Blodgett, “Grasp Tight the Old Ways”,
Art Gallery of Ontario, 1983, pp. 136 – 137
(Information provided by Dorset Fine Arts.)
