# Pitaloosie artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/pitaloosie/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T18:24:47.966Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Canadian
- Common media: Drawings, Lithograph prints

## Portrait

![Pitaloosie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Pitaloosie_Saila_e011368533.jpg)
Judith Eglington · CC BY 4.0
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pitaloosie_Saila_e011368533.jpg

## About Pitaloosie

Pitaloosie Saila (1942–2021), presented on this page under the shortened name Pitaloosie, was a Canadian Inuk graphic artist associated principally with drawing and printmaking. Public authority records identify her full name and lifespan, while biographical sources describe an artistic practice centered on drawings and lithograph prints. Her imagery addressed family, birds, shamanism, and experiences drawn from her life as an Inuk woman. These recurring subjects place personal observation and cultural experience at the center of her work without reducing the images to a single theme. Saila participated in exhibitions in Canada and internationally, including an exhibition devoted to artistic expression by women from Cape Dorset. She and her husband, sculptor Pauta Saila, were inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2004. Collectors may encounter her work through prints and works on paper catalogued under Pitaloosie, Pitaloosie Saila, or an authority-recorded spelling variant.

## Common works and media

Works associated with Pitaloosie Saila most commonly described in the collected sources are drawings and lithograph prints. Recurring imagery includes birds, family relationships, shamanic themes, and scenes or symbols connected with her personal experience as an Inuk woman. Auction cataloguing may place these objects in print, Inuit art, or works-on-paper categories and may identify the artist by her full or shortened name. The medium, inscriptions, dimensions, date, and print-specific details should be verified from the individual object and its catalogue record.

## Market and appraisal context

Auction and appraisal research for Pitaloosie Saila should begin by confirming the artist identity, since records may use her full name, the shortened Pitaloosie, or a spelling variant such as Pitaloosee. Relevant comparisons should distinguish drawings from lithograph prints and should consider subject matter, date, dimensions, inscriptions, and any available edition information. Condition and documented provenance also require object-specific inspection, although the collected public sources do not establish their market effects for this artist. Appraisily’s record count indicates recurring auction coverage, but a count is not evidence of attribution or a price trend. Any valuation should therefore rely on genuinely comparable public sales rather than an aggregate artist-page total.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Identity and market evidence are kept distinct so that an artist-page record count is not treated as authentication or a valuation conclusion.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3389319
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/19345051/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500127452
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2002042932
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaloosie_Saila
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaloosie_Saila
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/pitaloosie/