ELIJASSIAPIK (1912-1972) INUKJUAK (PORT HARRISON)
Seated Polar Bear, c. 1955
stone, tusk, and black ink, 8.25 x 4.5 x 5.25 in (21 x 11.4 x 13.3 cm)
unsigned.

Provenance
Galerie Elca London, Montreal;
Acquired from the above by John and Joyce Price, Seattle.

In the Winnipeg Art Gallery catalogue Early Masters, Darlene Wight illustrates two spectacular examples of seated bears by good friends Johnny Inukpuk (p. 85) and Elijassiapik (p. 88), each dated to ca. 1954. Both bears feature a striking use of walrus tusk inlay for details such as eyes, teeth, and foot pads. While the Inukpuk bear is corpulent and whimsical, the Elijassiapik example seems more naïve in style. (The one surefire way to tell the artists’ styles apart is Elijassiapik’s highly distinctive treatment of the animals’ noses.) In our July 2021 auction, we featured a wonderful Reclining Polar Bear by Elijassiapik carved perhaps a year after the Early Masters example. We noted that the extra year revealed a marked change in Elijassiapik’s work, with a more refined sense of style and a better depiction of polar bear anatomy. Perhaps Elijassiapik had learned by observing his friend, at whose camp he was living.

In many respects, Seated Polar Bear shows that Elijassiapik was refining his style very quickly, surpassing even Johnny Inukpuk’s workmanship. This superb sculpture comes off as looking less like a caricature than the Inukpuk. And like his cousin the reclining bear, this fellow could not be more charming!

References: For a very similarly styled Reclining Polar Bear, c. 1955 by the artist see First Arts, Toronto, 13 July 2021, Lot 95. A similar Seated Bear identified as by Simeonie Kingalik illustrated in Virginia Watt, et. al, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec: The Permanent Collection: Inuit Arts And Crafts c. 1900-1980, (Montreal: Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, 1980), fig. 21. A similarly styled and posed bear by Elijassiapik is illustrated in Darlene Coward Wight, Early Masters: Inuit Sculpture 1949-1955, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2006), p. 88.