Although he had been making sculpture for over a decade, there are very few records or images of works by Judas Ullulaq prior to the early 1980s, giving truth to the quip about how many years it takes to become an overnight success. Suddenly however, with catalogued solo exhibitions at the Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art (Toronto) and The Alaska Shop (New York), Ullulaq became one of the most sought-after artists by collectors and museums alike. Ullulaq always prided himself on his fine detail and originality. Expressive eyes and mouths register a wide range of emotions, and his animals are given lively human-like personalities [1].

In interviews, Ullulaq would recount how his grandfather would hunt for muskoxen before he owned a rifle. He would go right up in front of the muskox, often being lifted by the formidable horns before killing the muskox with his spear [2]. The hunter and muskox motif was one that Judas would revisit often, but this wonderful composition of a muskox besting a flabbergasted polar bear is possibly unique. Muskox Tossing a Bear is an example of an artist at the top of his career. The sculpture is dynamic and infused with tremendous drama, exceptional detail, and more than a touch of humour.

1. Darlene Coward Wight, Art & Expression of the Netsilik (Winnipeg Art Gallery), p. 152.

2. Ibid., p. 160.

References: For a Muskox Tossing Hunter from c. 1988 see Darlene Coward Wight, Art & Expression of the Netsilik, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2000), cat. 156. For an earlier example c. 1983 see Alaska Shop Gallery of Eskimo Art / Canadian Arctic Producers, Judas Ooloolah, (New York: Alaska Shop Gallery of Eskimo Art, November 1983), cat. 1. For other depictions of muskoxen by the artist see Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2006), cats. 84, 85. See also a charming whale bone work of a Muskox Tossing a Wolf by the artist in First Arts, Toronto, 12 July 2020, Lot 1.