Surulak

Surulak, Head with goggles and helping spirits, c. 1970

15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 7 in.

A powerful whalebone head wearing snow goggles, with two helping spirits. The sensitive and well-delineated face, accented with the antler snow goggles, contrasts with the two helping spirits, with just the barest suggestions of faces. This is afine example of the limitations that whalebone as a medium imposed on artists. Where (as on the helping spirits) the outer surface of the bone had been worn away, carving was difficult and perilous.

03707-1