Additional Images

Provenance:

Acquired directly from the Artist by Claude Baud, Douai, France
Private Collection, France

Literature:

Claude Baud, Michel Jacot, and Brice Irène, Art Inuit: La Sculpture Et L'estampe Contemporaines Des Esquimaux Du Canada = Art Inuit: Contemporary Sculpture and Print of the Canadian Eskimo (Paris, FR.: Fragments Éditions, 1997), 8.

Exhibited:

Musée d'Arras, Arras, FR, 1987.
Musée du Ranquet, Clermont-Ferrand, FR, 1998.
Musée de l'Ardenne, Charleville-Mézières, FR, 1999.
Musée de Sarlat, Sarlat, FR, 2002.
Nice-Acropolis, Nice, FR, 2005-2006.
Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Monaco, 2006.

Note:

This well-travelled bear has been on the road since it left Pauta Saila’s studio in the mid-1980s. For over 30 years, it has been exhibited in museums across France and Monaco, before finally returning to its country of origin. (An expanded exhibition history can be found above.)

The sculpture was acquired directly from the artist by Claude Baud, who featured it in his 1997 book Art Inuit: Contemporary Sculpture and Print of The Canadian Eskimo.

In the Inuit cosmology, the veil between the realms of the deceased, the living and that of spirits was thin. These realms were most adeptly negotiated by the Shaman, who was trained to act as an intermediary. Shamans were often aided in their tasks by benevolent spirits – the spirit of the polar bear was especially revered – and might be called upon through drumming and dance. Once summoned, spirit helpers might take on the material form of the shaman or visa versa as may be the case here.

Though the dancing bear is a common and recognizable subject in Inuit art, none are more famous than Saila’s. Among the first to carve this subject, Saila is able to combine power with playfulness, which culminates here in a particularly dynamic example.

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