Kenojuak Ashevak
Kenojuak Ashevak
1927 - 2013
CC RCA
Settlement: Kinngait (Cape Dorset); E7-1035

Kenojuak Ashevak (1927 - 2013) is one of Canada’s most famous and celebrated artists. Ashevak is known as the matriarch of modern Inuit art, and her oeuvre encompasses over 50 years of art-making, including sculpture, thousands of drawings and approximately 200 prints. She is perhaps best known for her print The Enchanted Owl, which was featured on a Canada Post stamp. Her subject matter includes landscapes, scenes from traditional Inuit life and animals – of which the most loved are her stylized birds.
Kenojuak was born in an Inuit camp known as Ikerrasak on South Baffin Island, NWT. She grew up as a nomad, traveling from camp to camp between South Baffin and northern Quebec. Her father died when she was a young girl, and she went to live with her widowed mother and grandmother, where she learned hunting and traditional crafts, including the cutting and repair of sealskins for trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company.
At the age of 19, her mother arranged for her to marry Johnniebo Ashevak (1923 - 1972), a local hunter. She was reluctant at first but eventually grew to love him for his kindness and gentleness. They moved to Keakto, just east of Cape Dorset. The next few years were a happy time for the couple, and they had two children, Jamasie and Mary.
In 1952, Kenojuak was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was sent to Parc Savard Hospital in Quebec City. She had just given birth and had to leave her child behind. She remained in the hospital for over three years, during which time several of her children fell ill and died. Kenojuak adopted a little boy when she returned from the hospital, whom she adored, and went on to have and adopt many children.
During her time at the hospital, she met Harold Pfeifer, an artist who was teaching patients arts and crafts to pass the time. Pfeiffer taught her to draw so the hospital could sell her artwork on her behalf. She was a natural with a clear sense for composition and took to drawing quickly. When she returned, she and her family met James Houston, who was working to create an arts and handicrafts market in the Arctic. Kenojuak was encouraged to continue making art by Houston, who taught Inuit printmaking techniques and founded the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative. Houston wrote about this time in 1999, “She was hesitant at first, claiming that she could not draw and that drawing was a man’s business. Yet the next time that she visited the Houstons, the sheets of paper that Alma had given her were filled with pencil sketches.”
Kenojuak broke gender barriers, and was the first woman to be involved in the printmaking shop, where her works gained immediate attention. Though she lived a life of personal tragedy, showing resilience in the face of difficulties, she created beauty and joy through her art. She continued to create art, and contributed to the Annual Cape Dorset Prints Collective every year until her death at the age of 86.
HOW TO SELL
AVAILABLE WORKS
HEFFEL’S TOP RESULTS
The Enchanted Owl by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $289,250
Kenojuak Ashevak
The Enchanted Owl
24 x 26 in, 61 x 66 cm
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $125,000 - $175,000 CDN
Sold for: $289,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, November 20, 2024
The Enchanted Owl by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $205,250
Kenojuak Ashevak
The Enchanted Owl
24 x 24 3/4 in, 61 x 62.9 cm
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $125,000 - $175,000 CDN
Sold for: $205,250 CDN (premium included)
Kenojuak Ashevak: Light of Happiness on Thursday, February 24, 2022
The Enchanted Owl by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $109,250
Kenojuak Ashevak
The Enchanted Owl
24 x 26 in, 61 x 66 cm
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CDN
Sold for: $109,250 CDN (premium included)
Inuit Modern | A Prominent Private Collection on Thursday, June 27, 2024
The Woman Who Lives in the Sun by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $79,250
Kenojuak Ashevak
The Woman Who Lives in the Sun
19 1/4 x 26 in, 48.9 x 66 cm
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CDN
Sold for: $79,250 CDN (premium included)
Kenojuak Ashevak: Light of Happiness on Thursday, February 24, 2022
The Woman Who Lives in the Sun by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $46,250
Kenojuak Ashevak
The Woman Who Lives in the Sun
19 1/2 x 26 in, 49.5 x 66 cm
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CDN
Sold for: $46,250 CDN (premium included)
Inuit Art | Graphic Works on Thursday, August 25, 2022
The Woman Who Lives in the Sun by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $40,950
Kenojuak Ashevak
The Woman Who Lives in the Sun
19 1/2 x 23 in, 49.5 x 66 cm
stonecut in red on laid japan paper
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CDN
Sold for: $40,950 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2013 - 1st Session on Thursday, November 28, 2013
Radiant Owl by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $28,125
Kenojuak Ashevak
Radiant Owl
23 1/2 x 26 1/2 in, 59.7 x 67.3 cm
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $2,500 - $3,500 CDN
Sold for: $28,125 CDN (premium included)
Inuit Art on Thursday, August 31, 2023
Birds from the Sea by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $20,000
Kenojuak Ashevak
Birds from the Sea
19 1/2 x 23 3/4 in, 49.5 x 60.3 cm
sealskin stencil on paper
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000 CDN
Sold for: $20,000 CDN (premium included)
Kenojuak Ashevak: Light of Happiness on Thursday, February 24, 2022
Birds from the Sea by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $15,000
Kenojuak Ashevak
Birds from the Sea
19 1/4 x 23 7/8 in, 48.9 x 60.6 cm
skin stencil on paper
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CDN
Sold for: $15,000 CDN (premium included)
Prints & Multiples on Saturday, June 26, 2021
Arrival of the Sun by Kenojuak Ashevak sold for $13,750
Kenojuak Ashevak
Arrival of the Sun
25 x 32 in, 63.5 x 81.3 cm
1962
stonecut on paper
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CDN
Sold for: $13,750 CDN (premium included)
Kenojuak Ashevak: Light of Happiness on Thursday, February 24, 2022