Originally from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Towatuga was the son of the late Mannumi Shaqu (1917-2000) one of the first important carvers from the community. Mannumi was a friend and contemporary of Pauta Saila; some of his early walking bears have been mistakenly attributed to that artist. Towatuga therefore certainly grew up observing and assisting a master of the genre. This is certainly evident in this massive and beautifully carved Swimming Polar Bear, fashioned from the gorgeous serpentinite stone commonly used in Cape Dorset in the early 1970s. Towatuga presents this formidable specimen coming up for air as it swims. We get a real sense of the bear’s tensed muscles and forward motion. Fabulous!

References: Although the artist has been much exhibited (including two solo shows in 1979 and 1983), his work is little published. See Alistair Macduff and George M. Galpin. Lords of the Stone: An Anthology of Eskimo Sculpture, (Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 1982), p. 113; and Jacqueline Fry, The Bessie Bulman Collection: An Exhibition of Contemporary Eskimo Sculpture, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1973), cat. 35.