Unlike many of his fellow Baker Lake sculptors such as Barnabus Arnasungaaq, Mathew Aqigaaq, and George Tatanniq, Peter Sevoga seldom portrayed muskoxen; his subjects of choice were almost always small family groups and single human figures. Any offer of a muskox sculpture by Sevoga would be a rare treat; the presentation of this monumental masterpiece ranks as a landmark event.

This spectacular sculpture manages to be both awesome in its scale and bulk, but also amazingly endearing. The animal’s massive size and form compare with the largest fine examples we can recall by Arnasungaaq, the most famous sculptor of muskoxen. Not since Barnabus’s colossal Muskox from 1973 (which graced the cover of our July 2020 auction catalogue) have we seen such an impressive example. The power of Sevoga’s Muskox stems from a combination of its large size and its incredibly compact form and in that way reminds us of Pauta Saila’s brilliant polar bears. Interestingly, here Sevoga eschews his more typical “refined” carving style in favour of a somewhat rawer treatment of the stone, complete with axe and other tool marks. In contrast, the tilt of the animal’s head and its simplified facial features, together with the subtle treatment of its hooves, give it an unexpected charm and even grace. A stupendous work.

Reference: For a somewhat smaller (but still quite large) muskox sculpture by Sevoga see Alistair Macduff and George M. Galpin, Lords of the Stone: An Anthology of Eskimo Sculpture, (Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 1982), p. 87. For another relatively large example see Norman Zepp, Inspiration: Four Decades of Sculpture by Canadian Inuit (Vancouver: Marion Scott Gallery, 1996), cat. 41, p. 67.