GALERIE FLAK

Large Okvik head
Old Bering Sea I culture (Archaic Eskimo)
St Lawrence Island, Alaska

Circa 200 BCE – 100 AD
Fossilized walrus ivory
Height: 3 in. (7.8 cm)

Provenance

• Excavated in 2012 on Punuk Island, Alaska
• Ex Bonhams San Francisco, December 2013, lot 1121
• Ex collection Donald Ellis, inventory # E4047
• Ex private collection, Paris, acquired from the above, 2014

Literature

« Art of the Arctic: Reflections of the Unseen », D. Ellis, 2015, plate 7 pp. 23-23

Elongated features, a pure, stylized face, a gaze from eternity… Are we looking at an idol from the Cyclades, a prehistoric Venus of Lespugue, or an ancestor from Easter Island? The truth is elsewhere: this sculpture carved in marine ivory, patinated by the cold, the wind and the passage of time, comes from those vast frozen lands of the Far North. This head is exceptional for the cleanness of its lines, its size and the expressiveness of the features. It is over 2000 years of age and comes from the Bering Stait region in Alaska.

The tautly stretched facial features are reminiscent of the art of Alberto Giacometti, Constantin Brancusi or Henry Moore.

This archaic carving demonstrates immense sculptural presence. From an artistic standpoint, it is both beautifully haunting and mystical. The carving displays a deep power and psychological force about it.

Redolent of sacredness, this exceptional, large head from an immemorial past seems to stare at us with a gaze that is infinitely poetic and magnetic.

This sculpture is a veritable miniature giant.

Photos : © Vincent Girier-Dufournier – courtesy Galerie Flak