Ammassalimiut Figure, Kulusuk Village, Ammasalik Region, Greendland

Robert Gessain Collection (1907-1986), Paris, acquired in situ Summer 1936

Thence by descent

Gessaint, R., "Statuette Eskimo composite à trois personnages", dans Journal de la société des américanistes, n° 44, 1955, p. 201, fig. 8 (dessin)

This three-figure sculpture was discovered by Robert Gessain during the summer of 1936, on the Ammassalik expedition he undertook with his companions Paul-Émile Victor, filmmaker Alfred Ernest Matter, and geologist Michel Pérez. Gessain later described how they came upon it - along with another statuette of the same type - in a 1955 article publicshed in the Journal de la Société des américanistes[1]. Carved from driftwood, both figures depict a family grouping: the figures of the man and child are fitted into the body of the mother by means of expertly crafted dovetail tenons. Although Gessain admitted he could not identify the precise significance of such figures, he nonetheless emphasised that they were “perfectly in accordance with everything we know of Angmassalimiut art; the perfect technical mastery, especially tangible in the way the separate elements fit together, is yet another example of the remarkable craftsmanship of these Eskimos.” [2] However, he did draw parallels with local mythology and performance traditions, noting that the figures' facial distortions called to mind the “dance bit” worn by masked characters in the mimed and sung “uayertut”. He specifically linked the piece with the legend of Uiartek, an Eskimo hunter who journeyed beyond Ammassalik with his wife and the son he carried on his back.

This surprising display of craftsmanship captures a little-known part of the myths and stories of the Ammassalimiut people, while Robert Gressain's account of its discovery provides another moving account of this famous French expedition to the Arctic Circle.

[1] Gessain, R., "Statuette Eskimo composite à trois personnages", in Journal de la société des américanistes, No 44, 1955, pp. 199-204

[2] Ibid., p. 203