Various Baffin Island Inuit would have observed these animals in their travels to other parts of the Arctic, encountered their remains on the land, and seen them in books, magazines and in films, but the fact remains that there are no records of muskoxen having inhabited Baffin Island during historical times. In any case, Kinngait artists have occasionally depicted these fascinating animals in carvings, drawings and prints since the mid 1950s. Artists such as Kananginak Pootoogook and Pudlo Pudlat portrayed muskoxen regularly (but post-1962), and Osuitok Ipeelee did so on occasion as well (see Lot 7). Pauta may have seen the two prints of muskoxen by Osuitok from 1958 and 1959.

Once Pauta Saila became famous for his polar bears he rarely carved anything else; birds predominate among his other animal subjects. We can recall just a couple of examples of muskox sculptures by the artist, and one curious Pudlo-like print, Hawk Above Muskox from 1968. This superb Muskox from c. 1962 is probably Pauta’s earliest depiction of the animal. It is certainly the most brilliant portrayal of any animal other than a bear by the artist, and furthermore ranks as one of his earliest and greatest masterpieces.

One of the things that we find remarkable about Muskox is how “Pauta-like” it looks. True, it does not exhibit quite the bulkiness or ferocity of two early walking bears by the artist, but it does strike a quite similar pose to theirs, with head held high and one hoof raised [1]. But don’t forget, it dates a year or two before either of the bears, so perhaps we should be looking at it as a prototype! Carved from a similar stone as the bears - the luscious early 1960s Cape Dorset stone that so many artists used to create spirit figures - Muskox already exhibits the compact sculptural form and sense of compressed energy that Pauta’s bears became famous for. Despite its bulk, however, Muskox is light on its almost dainty hooves - it reminds us of Pudlo’s comical drawings and prints of muskoxen that would appear almost two decades later. Fantastic.

1. See Walking Bear from c. 1963 in Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, 4 November 2012, Lot 77; and Bear from c. 1964 in Susan Gustavison, Northern Rock, 1999, cat. 8. See also a superb, slightly later Roaring Bear (c. 1968) is similarly posed; see First Arts, Toronto, 14 June 2022, Lot 82.

References: For another atypical and powerful animal subject attributed to Pauta from a couple of years later, see Walrus from 1965 in Maria von Finckenstein ed., Celebrating Inuit Art 1948-1970, (Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), p. 120. Pauta is of course most famous for his depictions of bears (see Lot 89). For important examples by the artist, see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction (Douglas & McIntyre, 1998) cover and fig. 102; from 1984 in the Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario (also illus. in Gerald McMaster, ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), p. 116; Bernadette Driscoll, Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1985), cat. 1; TD Bank Collection (also illus. in Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture / Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), fig. 158); First Arts Auction, 12 July 2020, Lot 46; First Arts, 1 December 2020, Lot 55.