Harold Pfeiffer, 1908-1997

Abstract

[Harold Pfieffer is best remembered for his bronze portraits of aboriginal peoples.] ... He had a special empathy with elderly Native people such as his favourite model, Satkatsiak of the Spence Bay region, with her weathered face, tattoos, and tales of the old days, good and bad. Harold rightly saw his bronze portraits as an indelible record of a vanishing way of life. Many of them can be seen in the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife and at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. ... Harold went around the world several times as artist-in-residence aboard an educational cruise ship. He was a raconteur, a humorist, an unabashed name-dropper, a keen observer, and a good listener. His talents served him well in 1988, when he obtained access to Chukotka as a guest of the Soviet government, and completed his collection of portraits of indigenous people around the Northern Hemisphere. ...