Walking Bear
2.75 cms x 6 cms (1.08 ins x 2.36 ins)
Late 1950's
sculpted in 1950
Lot offered for sale by Waddington's, Toronto at the auction event "First Arts: Inuit & First Nations Art" held on Tue, May 28, 2019.
Lot 3
Lot 3
Estimate: CAD $800 - $1,200
Realised: CAD $3,120
Realised: CAD $3,120
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
a Quebec private collection; purchased in Igloolik
Notes:
Henry Evaluardjuk was born in the Igloolik area, but spent much of his young adult life travelling to the neighbouring communities of Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay. Likewise, after he moved to Pond Inlet in 1952 he continued to make lengthy trips to the other communities. Evaluardjuk had began carving in the late 1940s, selling works wherever he happened to be living. After a stay in a southern TB sanatorium he finally settled in Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit).
Although unsigned and earlier than other published examples, this superb small sculpture has clear hallmarks of a "Henry bear": specifically the overall stance, distinctive gait, the slightly turned-in paws, the low extended neck, and the ears.
References: for an early 1960s bear carved by Evaluardjuk at the Hamilton Sanatorium and signed with his disc number see Walker's May 2017, Lot 2. For an important 1963 example carved in Iqaluit, that is perhaps the prototype of
First Arts: Inuit & First Nations Art Auction www.firstarts.ca
a Quebec private collection; purchased in Igloolik
Notes:
Henry Evaluardjuk was born in the Igloolik area, but spent much of his young adult life travelling to the neighbouring communities of Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay. Likewise, after he moved to Pond Inlet in 1952 he continued to make lengthy trips to the other communities. Evaluardjuk had began carving in the late 1940s, selling works wherever he happened to be living. After a stay in a southern TB sanatorium he finally settled in Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit).
Although unsigned and earlier than other published examples, this superb small sculpture has clear hallmarks of a "Henry bear": specifically the overall stance, distinctive gait, the slightly turned-in paws, the low extended neck, and the ears.
References: for an early 1960s bear carved by Evaluardjuk at the Hamilton Sanatorium and signed with his disc number see Walker's May 2017, Lot 2. For an important 1963 example carved in Iqaluit, that is perhaps the prototype of
First Arts: Inuit & First Nations Art Auction www.firstarts.ca
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Waddington's auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Waddington's auction house for permission to use.