Dancing bear in contemporary art from the Arctic
Have you ever seen a dancing bear represented into carving, print or drawing by an Inuit artist ? Of course you did and it is not surprising because in Inuit art, dancing bear is the most popular iconographic subject. We can see so many artworks illustrating dancing bears on the international art market ! But what does it mean ?
The dancing bear : its signification
There is not only one explanation about the dancing bear through Inuit art and culture. Actually, the most popular signification of this topic is linked to shamanism and spirits world. According to the Inuit thought, the universe is inhabited by human beings (humans, animals, vegetables), deceased’s and spirits (tuurnngait) each who live in different but inter-penetrating worlds. Every human being is provided with an anirniq “breathing, breath of life ” which, when the subject dies integrates a new animal or human body. The conception of the Inuit world represents a continuum, where every element is a part of a whole.
The shaman serves as intermediary between these various worlds and maintains the balance. She/he can travel from a world to the other one, flying through the air or water, thus entering communication with the deceased’s or spirits’ world as she/he can change its appearance and be human and animal at the same time… This is what we called the shaman’s transformation.
The shaman can be helped by protector auxiliary spirits - tuurnngait - to realize this task; they get to the shaman strength and power. The polar bear could be one of these tuurnngait and while the shaman is calling him, she/he is playing drums and dancing. Most of the time, when Inuit artists represent a dancing bear, this is precisely the moment when the shaman and the bear are getting connected thus, their spirit and their body merging together.
Its origin in contemporary art
In historical perspective, the first dancing bear was carved by Pauta Saila, a talented artist who lived and worked in Kinngait (Cape Dorset) in Nunavut. Born in December 1917 and recently passed away (June 2009), he lived with his second wife Pitalusi Saila, a well-known graphic artist.
Pauta Saila produced a wonderful variety of subjects in carving, drawing and print. He realized his first dancing bear carving in the middle of the 1950s. Quickly, art collectors were captivated by this kind of topic and the demand on the international art market grew up. Today, so many artists from every Inuit communities carve or draw dancing bears as well as dancing caribous or belugas such as Moe Putuguq, Michael Samayuallie, Padlaya Qitasuk, Johnny Papigatok, Mattiusie Tunillie, Ottokie Ashoona, Kananginak Putuguq…
Link :
http://www.tradition-orale.ca/default.html
