Artworks

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Possibly PAUTA SAILA, R.C.A. (1916-2009) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET), Polar Bear, c. 1957-60

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Possibly PAUTA SAILA, R.C.A. (1916-2009) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)

Polar Bear, c. 1957-60

stone, 4.5 x 10 x 2.75 in (11.4 x 25.4 x 7 cm)
unsigned.

LOT 1
ESTIMATE: $3,000 — $5,000
PRICE REALIZED: $4,800.00

Further images

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Our research suggests that this fine old Polar Bear might have been carved by Pauta. Pauta of course was the author of the famous Bear Family, c. 1956-57, illustrated in...

Our research suggests that this fine old Polar Bear might have been carved by Pauta. Pauta of course was the author of the famous Bear Family, c. 1956-57, illustrated in Sculpture/Inuit (cat. 122) and elsewhere, and we see a distinct “family resemblance” between that work and this one. Bear Family is quite naturalistic in form, while most Pauta bears of the early-mid 1960s are decidedly more stylized and chunky — making our Polar Bear the perfect bridge between the two styles. This elegant sculpture has wonderfully strong form combined with true sensitivity. We love how the bear’s powerful extended neck ends with a playful tilt of the small, almost delicate head.

References: For a stone polar bear by the artist dated to 1959 see George Swinton, Eskimo Sculpture, (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Ltd., 1965), p. 200. For Pauta’s Bear Family from c. 1956-57 see Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Sculpture/Inuit, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971) cat. 122; see also George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972/92) fig. 461, and elsewhere. See also the slightly later work by the artist in the Twomey Collection, illustrated in Darlene Coward Wight, The Jerry Twomey Collection, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2003), p. 58.

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Provenance

A British Columbia Collection.

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