Paul-émile Victor – Portrait Of Kuitsi, Greenland. Pencil Drawing Of Inuit People, 1934. Exploration.

Paul-Émile Victor (1907–1995) – Portrait of Kuitsi, Anmassalik (Ammassalik), East Coast of Greenland (Denmark), 1934. Pencil drawing on paper depicting the portrait of Kuitsi, originally from Anmassalik (now Ammassalik/Tasiilaq), on the east coast of Greenland, created in 1934 by Paul-Émile Victor, French polar explorer, ethnologist, writer, and a major figure in 20th-century French polar expeditions. The face, enveloped in a traditional Inuit hood, is rendered with great restraint: a continuous, precise line focused on the expression in the eyes and the inner strength of the subject, blurring the lines between ethnographic document and work of art. The work is annotated in the lower left corner "Kuitsi – Anmassalik – East Coast of Greenland – 1934" and bears a handwritten dedication in the lower right corner "Paul-Émile Victor to Odile and Claude Jiquel Mermoz, 1986." This portrait testifies to the profoundly humane and respectful gaze that Paul-Émile Victor cast upon the Inuit people, in the context of his scientific and ethnological missions conducted in Greenland in the 1930s. Image dimensions: 17 x 24.8 cm. Frame dimensions: 37.5 x 30 cm.