An important solid 18kt gold & crystal Special Limited Edition Arctic Fisherman sculpture by James Houston (Canadian, 1921-2006) for Steuben
Originally designed by Houston in 1970;
Special limited 18kt gold edition by James Houston 2002, 0556-W.
 
Incised 'Steuben 25/40 J. Houston' on edge of ice block; this Special Commemorative Edition numbered and strictly limited to only 40 examples worldwide.
Engraved '18k-S' to edge of boot; the Inuit figure cast in 18 karat gold.
With original Steuben light-box illuminated stand.
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Measuring 16.5cm in height (6.5 inches in height)
 
Together with a limited edition hardcover book titled "The Arctic Fisherman" by James Houston, published by Steuben 2002. Copy number 170/200 signed by the artist.
Also with original 2002 catalogue featuring the present work.
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"Arctic Fisherman is an important design honouring James Houston's lifetime of achievements both in his own art and in bringing prosperity and recognition to Inuit people. Acquiring this special, solid 18 karat gold limited edition marks the culmination of Houston's life work and allows a select few collectors the chance to share this tribute."
Steuben press release, December 2002.
 
Inspired by the lnuk stone carver Iviaksiak, this hand-polished crystal sculpture has long been hailed as Houston's most famous and beloved work for Steuben; the present Special Limited Edition is truly a legendary crystal creation. The Inuit figure is cast & engraved in 18 karat gold and mounted on a heavy-fire polished colourless lead glass crystal. The colossal glass block majestically depicts an ice flow and underwater landscape evocative of the immense scale and pristine solitude of the Canadian Arctic. Below the towering ice flow, two unwary arctic char cut through the crystal clear water. The Inuit figure waits, frozen in a crouched position on the surface, peering through an opening in the ice and ready to pouch, with golden spear poised to strike.
 
JAMES ARCHIBALD HOUSTON (Canadian, 1921-2005)
Canadian artist, designer, author & filmmaker James Houston worked for Steuben from 1962 until his death in 2005 and was the first designer to be honoured by Steuben with a major retrospective exhibition in 1992. Houston's designs were heavily influenced by the years (1948-1962) he spent in the Eastern Arctic, where he lived and worked alongside the Inuit people. Houston has been credited with bringing Inuit Art to the mainstream in the 1950s, when he was posted as the first Civil Administrator for West Baffin Island. He became an indispensable advocate for Inuit Art and artists, and helped to gain international recognition for their work.
 
Excerpt below:
From Fire to Ice: James Houston’s Mesmerising Glass Art Sculptures
"James Houston was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1921. Being the son of a clothing importer, he was exposed to the Canadian fur trade (and thus the Pacific Northwest) early on, through the stories of his father and the gifts, such as moose-hide moccasins, that he brought home from his various excursions. The family summered on a lake which abutted an Ojibwa reservation, allowing James to foster a friendship with a Native elder, one which had a lasting impact on the young man.
James did not immediately pursue life in the north, however; he instead chose to perfect his creative talents, studying art in Toronto and Paris. It was not until he was called to serve in the Toronto Scottish Regiment of the Canadian Army in World War II that he once again grew enamoured of the wild lands. His interest in art and the north would ultimately come together when, on a northern shore patrol, he was exposed to the art of the local native peoples.
Many years later, Houston would describe the first time he saw the Arctic to a New London reporter: 'I looked around at the barren rocks and tundra with the few tents graying with age and weighted down against the wind, and I took in the steel-blue sea and the biggest ice that I had ever seen and then the tanned, smiling people. I could scarcely breathe. I thought: This is the place that I’ve been looking for and now I’ve found it. I’m here!'
So profound was this feeling that despite being in possession of only a sleeping bag, a sketch pad, and a can of peaches (not to mention being completely oblivious regarding the local language, customs, and geography), James declined to fly back. The famously welcoming Inuit didn’t seem to mind, quickly ushering James into one of their igloos.
A flurry of artistic activity ensued; to thank the Inuit, James drew their portraits, and in return the Inuit presented him with soapstone sculptures. Houston was not only grateful, he was astounded at the native people’s skills: “I swear I could somehow see the whole future, not only to this day but far beyond my life, children coming to museums in the year 2000,” Houston told the Montreal Gazette in 2002. “I never doubted it for an instant.”
Houston took his precious discoveries back down to Toronto, where he was chartered as an agent for the Hudson Bay Company, flying back and forth while helping the Inuit to raise money through their artwork. Finally, James officially made the north his home, settling there permanently with his new wife, Alma, and deciding to raise his children among the Inuit.
As Inuit art gained international acclaim, Houston became a well known figure in Canada, leading to him being named the Canadian administrator of West Baffin Island in 1955. While he was in charge of this intensely remote 65,000-square-mile territory (then inhabited by just 343 people), he not only continued to market Inuit art to the outside world, he also brought printmaking to the local people. 
Houston became incredibly prolific as an artist....but it was glass which truly allowed Houston to channel the impressions of the Arctic that lived on in his memory; he immediately grasped—and mastered—the evident aesthetic connection between glass and ice, so perfectly rendering his sculptures in Steuben’s clear crystal (said by some to be the clearest in the world) that his work became wildly popular with collectors. (In his preface to to “The Arctic Fisherman,” a limited-edition book from Steuben, Houston wrote that “Realising a connection between glass and ice was of huge importance to me and set me on Nature’s trail.”)
Houston would go on to receive many honours and accolades prior to his passing in 2005, including being appointed Officer of the Order of Canada in 1974 and being chosen as one of the 125 most influential Canadians in history in 1992 (that same year, Steuben would honour him with a retrospective exhibit).
Houston’s ability to wield fire into ice has left us with stunning mementos of a wilderness that is all too quickly vanishing, preserving through the universal language of art the creatures, cultures, and inimitable soul of an untamed land."