Lot 197
PARR (1893-1969)
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Note:
“Parr was an elderly man when his artistic career began, and from the outset he suffered bouts of senility. Impaired hearing also affected detailed verbal communication, although it was not in Parr’s nature to comment seriously on his drawings.
Fellow Cape Dorset artists failed to show any appreciation for his work, but nevertheless he persisted in his endeavours until just shortly before his death. In his humble fashion, Parr would sit simply on his sleeping platform, balancing sheets of paper on his outstretched legs, drawing intently, and peering through eyeglasses that never seemed to fulfill their function to his satisfaction.
By January 1969, Parr was no longer able to draw, yet in those few years as an artist he had executed over two thousand drawings. They remain as a testament today to a man anxious to record a fading way of life which he had shared.”
Terrence Ryan,
Cape Dorset, N.W.T.
July 1979