Frieze Masters 2017

Donald Ellis Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the sixth edition of Frieze Masters to be held in Regent’s Park, London, from October 5-8, 2017 with a VIP preview on October 4th.

This year the gallery will present a special exhibition of highly sophisticated Inuit art spanning two thousand years, dating from 500 BC to the 1970’s. The highlight of the exhibition will be the Donati Studio Mask, widely perceived to be the most important Yup’ik mask in private hands. This extraordinary mask from the collection of Surrealist artist Enrico Donati sold for a record price when last on the market. Together with this prominent piece, the exhibition will feature a group of masks formerly in the collections of Donati’s surrealist friends Andre Breton, Robert Lebel and Roberto Matta. Other highlights will include an exceptional and rare collection of approximately 20 of Inupiaq portrait masks from the second half of the 19th century.

Among the oldest objects in the exhibition will be perhaps the most important pre-historic Inuit ivory figure extant while the most recent being an important group of soapstone sculptures from the mid 20th century. Artists John Pangnark (1920-1980), Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok (1934-2012) and Andy Miki (1918-1983) are known for their use of minimalist style and geometric abstraction in human and animal forms. Their highly individualized distilled abstractions are appreciated for their affinity with 20th-century abstract sculpture, such as those by Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore, among others. 

Complimenting this rich array of objects, the gallery will present a selection of drawings by Inuit artist, Parr (1893 - 1969) who lived a traditional nomadic hunting life. Parr began drawing in 1961 at the age of 68 creating a body of approximately 2000 works. His drawings are regarded as a record for future generations of the traditional hunting and nomadic lifestyle of the Inuit. His reductive and direct style shows only the most essential features of humans and animals, depicting actual hunting events from his personal memories.

“Two Thousand Years of Inuit Art” promises to be the most significant commercial exhibition of its kind ever presented.

Download Frieze Masters 2017 Press Release