It is possible that Luke Anowtalik did not invent the antler swivelling acrobat imagery but he certainly made it famous. We know that he was creating very similar works as early as 1971-72 (see reference), and he carved them in both large and small configurations until almost the end of his life.

References: For an early single-figure version from c. 1971-72 see Darlene Coward Wight, The Faye and Bert Settler Collection (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2004), p. 45. For a quite similar version of the subject from 1975 by Anowtalik in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto, M&S, new edition 1992), fig. 863. See also Walker's Auctions, Nov. 2012, Lot 102, and May 2013, Lot 241.

Lot 114