I just wanted to share this awesome Ronald Senungetuk (Iñupiaq, b. 1933) pendant (on the right in the first pic) that was commissioned from the artist in 1964 by the owner of Wien Air Alaska (1927-1985). Wien was the first commercial airline in Alaska, and this pendant is very similar to the "W" logo of the company. The pendant also references a plane when viewed from the sides and the back. After calling several galleries, museums, and collectors, it appears the only other known pendant is in the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), gifted by the artist to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board Collection in 1965. It is stamped "Senungetuk" and "sterling" on the back. Ron Senungetuk is widely considered the first Alaska Native modernist to break through to a wider audience. He studied midcentury modern Scandinavian design at the Rochester Institute in New York under Ronald Pearson, Jack Prip, Tage Frid, and Hans Christensen. Senungetuk later traveled to Oslo, Norway, as a Fulbright Scholar to further his studies in metal and design before returning to Alaska to found the Native Arts department at the University of Alaska. There only appears to be two of these pendants known, I'm really glad to have one of them.
Lucky you - what a cool piece (is it a pendant, or a brooch?)! Interesting how he pursued his education (I am a Jack Prip geek, and love Norwegian silver most of all)... ~Cheryl
Wonderful pendant and background, thanks for showing us. Native arts around the world have had some amazing pioneers, whose vision enabled them to prove that tradition can evolve.
Thanks! I love any midcentury American silver, particularly artists involved in the modernist craft movement like Prip and Pearson. Also, I think it’s technically a brooch, but I’ve always called it a pendant.
I was wondering about that, since it looks like a pin showing between the wings. I wear brooches as pendants on short necklaces, just put the pin of the brooch through the rings of the necklace clasp. Or I use brooch to pendant converters, tubes which you slip over the pin, they have a bail in the centre.
