Few subjects are more closely associated with Niviaqsi than the polar bear and in Two Bears Hunting it takes on a particularly memorable form. Here, against a brilliant blue ground, two white bears move across the sheet with an elegant economy, their bodies reduced to smooth, flowing contours. One lowers itself in a bowing posture that suggests scenting, foraging, or perhaps play, while the other stands upright with a sense of composure and strength. Scattered uninked flecks punctuate the blue field, exposing the paper beneath and giving the surface the look of drifting snow or a sky lit with stars.

Two Bears Hunting belongs to the Dorset Series, a group of roughly seventy prints also known as the Dorset Collection, Northern Collection, or Northern Releases. Unlike the annual Cape Dorset print collections, which were catalogued and distributed through southern galleries, these works were sold informally through the West Baffin Eskimo Co-op to visitors in the North. As a result, they remain far less common on the market than the more familiar regular print issues.

ND