Charlie Epoo was not a prolific artist, but clearly a talented one. We are not sure if this strikingly expressionistic sculpture is a portrait head or a caricature, but it certainly compares with several other fine published examples from the period by fellow Inukjuak artists (see references). Head of a Man displays a brutal realism that would not have out of place in the more northerly community of Puvirnituq.

References: For contemporaneous portrait heads by other Inukjuak artists see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: M&S, 1972/92), fig. 286 and Walker's Auctions, Nov. 2011, Lot 6 (Simon POV); CEAC, Sculpture/Inuit (Toronto: U of T Presss, 1971), figs. 366 (Abraham Nastapoka) and 402 (Daniel Simaotik); and Jean Blodgett, Port Harrison/Inoucdjouac (WAG, 1976) cat. 71.

Lot 48