Nahaulaituq began carving in the late 1960s, though it was not until his move to Taloyoak (Spence Bay) in 1972 that he pursued it as a livelihood. His earliest works were carved in whale bone, but he soon turned his attention to stone, and through the 1980s and 1990s he emerged as one of Taloyoak’s leading artists, earning several solo exhibitions. His career was shaped in the shadow of Karoo Ashevak’s early brilliance and Charlie Ugyuk’s marketplace prominence, yet his own body of work is distinguished by both consistency and excellence.

In Inuit art, depictions of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) are far more common, owing to both their numbers and their cultural importance. The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), by contrast, occupies a narrower range, but it has long roamed parts of the Kitikmeot region, including the area around Taloyoak. Nahaulaituq’s rendering of the animal captures this formidable presence. For all its endearing, comical expression, his grizzly remains an undeniably powerful creature.

MBL