Six Siberian Yupik Village Drawings, Circa 1954–1960
Six lively watercolor-and-line drawings of St. Lawrence Island life, made circa 1954–1960 by an unidentified twelve-year-old Siberian Yupik girl. Yellow houses, red roofs and colorful parkas enliven scenes of children jumping rope, a family gathered outdoors, a woman cutting meat with an ulu and people working around a stretched hide. Two further drawings follow the handling of a boat beside broken sea ice, one at close range and the other across a broad shoreline.
Crisp outlines and transparent washes give the pictures an immediate, engaging character. Small details—a tethered dog, drying equipment, a barrel and children at play—show what caught the young artist’s eye. Her name has not been preserved, but her drawings offer a view of family and community life from within the village itself.
The sheets retain a row of perforations along one edge, consistent with removal from a bound pad. The largest measures approximately 15" × 10". There is light toning and handling wear consistent with age.
Provenance: From the collection of Karl R. Reinhard, D.V.M., Ph.D.; subsequently by family descent. A veterinarian and microbiologist whose field career extended from New Guinea to Alaska, Reinhard served with the United States Public Health Service beginning in 1951. During health-study visits to St. Lawrence Island between 1954 and 1960, he developed lasting friendships with residents of Gambell and Savoonga and assembled a collection of Indigenous artwork and historic objects. He remembered these years as the “golden period” of his career and later drew upon them for People of the Squeezed-Out Land: The Art and Times of an Eskimo Artist, an unpublished manuscript preserved in an annotated April 1975 draft. According to information provided by Reinhard’s family, the collection was exhibited at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1993–94.
Young Artist — Collection Context: Among the works Reinhard brought home were these drawings by a twelve-year-old St. Lawrence Island girl. Her name is unknown, but her pictures preserve a vivid and observant account of the community around her. Everyday activities unfold through carefully drawn figures, expressive gestures and richly colored details, offering a young Siberian Yupik artist’s perspective on island life in the 1950s.
Reinhard’s manuscript offers a striking insight into the artistic environment in which she worked. He recalled that between one-third and one-half of an upper-level elementary-school class could produce pictures of excellent quality for their age. He described this youthful ability alongside the accomplished carving, skin sewing and making of everyday objects he encountered throughout the community. These drawings give a particularly engaging expression to the talent he recognized among the island’s children.
Their appeal lies as much in the artist’s choices as in her skill: the activities she considered worth recording, the relationships between her figures and the small details that make each scene recognizable and alive. Familiar tasks become carefully composed pictures of family and community life. Preserved in Reinhard’s collection, they offer an intimate view of mid-twentieth-century St. Lawrence Island through the eyes of a gifted young resident.
Auction Estimate: $600–$900.
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Six lively watercolor-and-line drawings of St. Lawrence Island life, made circa 1954–1960 by an unidentified twelve-year-old Siberian Yupik girl. Yellow houses, red roofs and colorful parkas enliven scenes of children jumping rope, a family gathered outdoors, a woman cutting meat with an ulu and people working around a stretched hide. Two further drawings follow the handling of a boat beside broken sea ice, one at close range and the other across a broad shoreline.
Crisp outlines and transparent washes give the pictures an immediate, engaging character. Small details—a tethered dog, drying equipment, a barrel and children at play—show what caught the young artist’s eye. Her name has not been preserved, but her drawings offer a view of family and community life from within the village itself.
The sheets retain a row of perforations along one edge, consistent with removal from a bound pad. The largest measures approximately 15" × 10". There is light toning and handling wear consistent with age.
Provenance: From the collection of Karl R. Reinhard, D.V.M., Ph.D.; subsequently by family descent. A veterinarian and microbiologist whose field career extended from New Guinea to Alaska, Reinhard served with the United States Public Health Service beginning in 1951. During health-study visits to St. Lawrence Island between 1954 and 1960, he developed lasting friendships with residents of Gambell and Savoonga and assembled a collection of Indigenous artwork and historic objects. He remembered these years as the “golden period” of his career and later drew upon them for People of the Squeezed-Out Land: The Art and Times of an Eskimo Artist, an unpublished manuscript preserved in an annotated April 1975 draft. According to information provided by Reinhard’s family, the collection was exhibited at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1993–94.
Young Artist — Collection Context: Among the works Reinhard brought home were these drawings by a twelve-year-old St. Lawrence Island girl. Her name is unknown, but her pictures preserve a vivid and observant account of the community around her. Everyday activities unfold through carefully drawn figures, expressive gestures and richly colored details, offering a young Siberian Yupik artist’s perspective on island life in the 1950s.
Reinhard’s manuscript offers a striking insight into the artistic environment in which she worked. He recalled that between one-third and one-half of an upper-level elementary-school class could produce pictures of excellent quality for their age. He described this youthful ability alongside the accomplished carving, skin sewing and making of everyday objects he encountered throughout the community. These drawings give a particularly engaging expression to the talent he recognized among the island’s children.
Their appeal lies as much in the artist’s choices as in her skill: the activities she considered worth recording, the relationships between her figures and the small details that make each scene recognizable and alive. Familiar tasks become carefully composed pictures of family and community life. Preserved in Reinhard’s collection, they offer an intimate view of mid-twentieth-century St. Lawrence Island through the eyes of a gifted young resident.
Auction Estimate: $600–$900.
Sale price
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
