John Foster Caldwell
Playthings and Curios: Historic Inuit Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
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John Foster Caldwell

John Foster Caldwell was assigned to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) post at Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay in 1913. He was later transferred to take charge of the HBC post at George River. Caldwell was in Northern Quebec from 1913 through to 1916.

His collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization consists of four walrus tusks, carved in the round. One is signed Fort Chimo, 1914, which is probably the date and provenance for all four pieces. It appears that tusks carved as composite images were a specialty of the Ungava Bay area. Frank Speck, the American anthropologist at the National Museum of the American Indian, discusses very similar pieces that their museum obtained during the 1920s, also from the Ungava Bay area.*

*Frank Speck
1927 – "Eskimo Carved Ivories from Northern Labrador." Indian Notes,
vol. 4, # 4, pp. 309-314.


Bird and Bear Bird and Bear, 1914
Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo), Nunavik
Ivory, black colouring
3.2 x 4.4 x 1.1 cm
CMC IV-B-1746
Collected by Foster Caldwell while working at the Hudson's Bay trading post in Fort Chimo

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Caldwell, in his letters to family in Ireland, only once makes a brief reference to carvings: "There is an old half-breed here who carves ivory."* It can be assumed that all four pieces in the CMC collection were created by this person. Here a large bird has been attached to a small bear at an angle. Although the carver had only a tiny piece of ivory to work with, he stayed within the local tradition of carving composite pieces.

* Caldwell in his letter to North Ireland, August 1913 (National Archives of Canada, Accession # 1975-092).

Carved Ivory Tusk
Carved Ivory Tusk, 1914
Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo), Nunavik
Ivory, black colouring
3.1 x 25.2 x 1.9 cm
CMC IV-B-1744
Collected by Foster Caldwell while working at the Hudson's Bay trading post in Fort Chimo
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Animals from the land, air and sea are intertwined in this intricate piece. Both the owl and the seal have black dots, most likely to indicate markings on their bodies, as in the case of the snowy owl and the ringed seal. The style of "deep carving" animals around a walrus tusk is reminiscent of similar tusks from Alaska's Nunivak Island.*

*University of Alaska Museum
1982 – Setting it Free: An exhibition of modern Alaska Eskimo Ivory Carving. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Museum. p. 32, ill.#50.

Exhibition History:
A Gift to the Nation. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec. Mall case in the First Peoples Hall. October 2001 to present.

Arctic Mirror. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec.
January 25 – September 9, 1990.

Carved Ivory Tusk
Carved Ivory Tusk, 1914
Fort Chimo, Nunavik
Ivory, black colouring
3.1 x 20.2 x 3.2 cm
Signed: Fort Chimo 1914
CMC IV-B-1743
Collected by Foster Caldwell while working at the Hudson's Bay trading post in Fort Chimo
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The place name and date in brown ink were most likely inscribed on to the piece by Caldwell himself. The tusk, to be held and turned around, shows a walrus, a seal, a fish, and a small boat.

Amulet
Bird, Bear, Walrus and Hare, 1914
Fort Chimo, Nunavik
Ivory, black colouring
3.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 cm
CMC IV-B-1745
Collected by Foster Caldwell while working at the Hudson's Bay trading post in Fort Chimo
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A left-over piece of ivory allowed for only one good side in this small composition. The four animals – a bird, a bear, an animal standing on its hind legs, and a walrus – are not enmeshed. Originally, the carver may have planned to break up the piece into four separate little figures.