The caption for this sculpture in Darlene Wight’s Art & Expression of the Netsilik exhibition catalogue is based on interviews she held with Ullulaq in 1997. It turns out that the story behind this captivating image is as remarkable as the work itself:

Ullulaq remembered his grandfather who was a very determined hunter. Before there were guns, his grandfather would go right up to a muskox, in front of its nose. On more than one occasion, he was lifted up in the air on its horns. Then he would kill the muskox with his spear. [1]

Hats off to Ullulaq’s grandfather for his chutzpah and courage, and kudos to the artist for creating one of his most engaging and brilliant compositions. Masterfully conceived and executed, Muskox Tossing Hunter is a tour de force sculpture brimming with dynamism and humour. Both the hunter and muskox are portrayed as angst-filled (as it turns out they should be), even if it seems for the moment that the animal has the upper hand. We are especially impressed with Ullulaq’s unusual treatment of the muskox’s fur. First, the artist sculpts the fur into beautiful overlapping swathes, then applies his trademark parallel lines as texture. The resulting patterns add a feeling of turbulence to what is already a highly dramatic composition. Wow.

1. Darlene Coward Wight, Art & Expression of the Netsilik (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2000), p. 160.

References: For a similarly themed work by Ullulaq see Susan Gustavison, Northern Rock: Contemporary Inuit Stone Sculpture (Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999), cat. 62, p. 161. See also Ken Mantel et al., Tuvaq: Inuit Art and the Modern World, (Bristol, UK: Sansom and Company Ltd., 2010), fig. 226, p. 214. For a wider idea of how muskoxen appear in Ullulaq’s art see First Arts, 12 July 2020, Lot 1; 5 December 2022, Lots 59 and 155; and First Arts, 4 December 2023, Lot 59; see also Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2006), cats. 84, 85. For a discussion of Ullulaq’s life and work, and illustrations of twenty sculptures see Darlene Coward Wight, Art & Expression of the Netsilik, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2000) pp. 152-171.