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Artworks
PAUTA SAILA, R.C.A. (1916-2009) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Roaring Polar Bear, c. 1969-72stone and antler, 11.25 x 8.25 x 4.25 in (28.6 x 21 x 10.8 cm)
unsignedLot 136
ESTIMATE: $15,000 — $25,000
PRICE REALIZED: $9,600.00Further images
While Pauta is justifiably famous for his dancing bears, some of his most powerful sculptures stand resolutely upright on both hind legs. This magnificent specimen attests to Pauta’s ability to...While Pauta is justifiably famous for his dancing bears, some of his most powerful sculptures stand resolutely upright on both hind legs. This magnificent specimen attests to Pauta’s ability to capture the essence of a bear in differing positions and moods. When it comes to depicting a single subject in various poses and states of readiness, Pauta has no equals. Whereas Pauta’s Dancing Bear (Lot 103) probably depicts a petulant youngster, Roaring Polar Bear is most assuredly an adult. No longer is there a sense of attempted ferocity; instead, we see a confident adult capable of springing forth with lethal action. As with many of the best Pauta bears, Roaring Polar Bear has a veneer of geniality atop a core of savagery. This combination of ferocity and beauty is a hallmark of Pauta’s oeuvre.
Markham Bay serpentine proved problematic for many Dorset artists when it was in plentiful supply. Unlike earlier (and later) serpentines quarried in the region (see lot 103), Markham Bay stone lacked richly variegated colours, but also proved quite tricky to carve and did not encourage fine detail or negative space. Some artists successfully embellished the stone by engraving into the surface (see Lukta Qiatsuk, Lot 99), but Pauta showed his true genius and mastery of the material in his ability to elicit sensuous and muscular forms that entice our eyes (and hands) over every inch of the surface. Indeed, this might be our favourite of the artist’s standing bears, and after our glowing praise of another Standing Polar Bear (12 July 2020, Lot 88), that’s saying a lot! Fabulous.
References: For a similarly styled and contemporaneous sculpture by Pauta see First Arts, 12 July 2020, Lot 88.
Provenance
Waddington's, Toronto, 20 November 2018, Lot 64;
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, BC.
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