HENRY EVALUARDJUK (1923-2007) IQALUIT (FROBISHER BAY)
Gesturing Bear, c. 1974
whalebone, 11.25 x 9.5 x 7.25 in (28.6 x 24.2 x 18.4 cm), measurements reflect dimensions without later added stone base
signed, "H[ENR?]Y" (signature obscured by metal pin.)

Provenance
Private Collection, Montreal, purchased from the artist;
Walker’s Auctions, Ottawa, May 2012, Lot 47;
Private Collection, Toronto.

There are two great carvers of bears in the history of Inuit art: Pauta Saila from Cape Dorset (see lots 89 & 109) and Henry Evaluardjuk from Iqaluit. Evaluardjuk typically depicted his bear subjects as hunters, stalking unseen prey (see lot 110). Occasionally he carved them in standing or seated poses. An unusually posed Waving Polar Bear Seated on a Rock from the mid-late 1970s (First Arts, May 2019, Lot 22) is a rare example of a “Henry bear” with a seemingly anthropomorphic pose, and arguably a human-like personality and charm.

Gesturing Bear is essentially unique in Evaluardjuk’s oeuvre. It is quite well known that Henry Evaluardjuk struggled with alcoholism, and his tempestuous life was punctuated with violence. And while there are flashes of brilliance throughout his career, there are virtually no flashes of levity in his art. It is highly unusual, therefore, to see not only the anthropomorphic but the downright comical so clearly evident in one of his bear subjects. Stylistically, this sculpture is pure “Henry bear.” As a work of art, it is a comic masterpiece, brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed.

Henry Evaluardjuk almost never carved whale bone. The only other bone sculpture that we can recall is a spectacular Mother and Child from 1969 (see Walker’s Auctions, May 2012, Lot 25). Interestingly, Gesturing Bear was carved at the exact time that Davie Atchealak created his famous whale bone Drummer, now in the National Gallery collection (see Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, fig. 74). In fact, it is even possible that the materials for the two works might have been sourced from the same large piece of dense bone. Evaluardjuk and Atchealak were good friends and friendly rivals at the time, and they occasionally carved together. Gesturing Bear certainly rivals Atchealak’s Drummer as an example of virtuoso whale bone carving.

References: For a large Waving Polar Bear Seated on a Rock from the mid-late 1970s see First Arts Auction, 28 May 2019, Lot 22. For a similarly fine but much smaller work by the artist see Walker’s Auctions, May 2018, Lot 1. For another rare example of a whale bone sculpture by the artist (a Mother and Child from 1969 now in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts) see Walker’s Auctions, May 2012, Lot 25.