I carve bears with longer and shorter necks, and some that are fat or lean. They are in different positions because bears are always doing something.

[From an interview with George Swinton in Driscoll, Uumajut, WAG, 1985:46]

We have read that quote (and used it) a number of times. But Pauta’s words really hit home as we looked at other examples to compare with this fantastic sculpture. Because he was a keen observer and admirer of polar bears, Pauta knew in his heart that no two bears were the same, just as no two humans are. Individual bears look different, they move differently, they think differently from each other. Pauta was a brilliant artist because he was able to capture these nuances in stone. That is why bears carved by him truly are Pauta Bears. They all have a certain something special - but some rise to the level of the sublime.

We have written before about the importance of proportion in Pauta’s sculpture - how he was able to defy the laws of proportion and invent his own rules (Walker’s Nov. 2017, Lot 62). This astounding Dancing Bear is a brilliant case in point. Its proportions not only defy anatomy, they also change as we move around the work. But there is more to it than that. To our eyes (and hearts) this bear possesses a powerful life force that is truly amazing and almost defies analysis. Part of it has to do with the sculpture’s gorgeous sinuous outline that entices our eyes to dance around it. The artist’s subtle finishing of the gorgeous stone certainly helps as well. But we think it was Pauta’s deft sprinkling of pixie dust that finally did the trick. Extraordinary.

Literature: For other important examples of bears by the artist see the Dancing Bear from 1984 in the Sarick Collection at the AGO in Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art (Vancouver: D&M, 1998), front cover and p. 125; Gerald McMaster ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), pp. 116-117; Bernadette Driscoll, Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art (WAG, 1985), cat. 1, TD Bank Collection (also illus. in CEAC, Sculpture/Inuit, 1971, fig. 158); Susan Gustavison, Northern Rock: Contemporary Inuit Stone Sculpture (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), cat. 8. See Marion Scott Gallery, Inspiration (Vancouver: 1996), cat. 23. See also First Arts Auctions, July 2020, Lot 46. See Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2012, Lot 24; May 2013, Lot 15; Nov. 2017, Lot 62. And see Waddington’s Auctions May 2016, Lot 40; Apr. 2007, Lot 79.