George Tataniq was born in 1910 in the Kazan River area. He grew up living a traditional lifestyle hunting caribou, foxes, and fishing in the waters around his home. In the 1960s, he went to Southern Canada for tuberculosis treatment in a sanatorium. After receiving treatment, Tataniq returned north to settle in Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake) where he resided for the rest of his life. 

He started carving after his return to the North. Though he was hesitant at first, arts workers in the area encouraged him to pursue carving after seeing a great deal of talent in his early works. He grew to be a highly desirable artist in the southern art market; known for his depictions of mothers with their children and his scenes of transformation.

In the mid 1980s, Tataniq was forced to stop carving due to health issues, and he died in 1991. His work has been collected by the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the Museum of Anthropology. 

Exhibitions

• Aboriginal Rights in Canada, National Library of Canada
• Baker Lake Festival: Sculpture, Drawings, and Wallhangings, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Baker Lake Prints & Print-Drawings: 1970-1976, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Baker Lake Sculpture, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Sculpture, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• Drawings and Sculpture from Baker Lake, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Eskimo Carvers of Keewatin, N.W.T., Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Eskimo Sculpture, Winnipeg Art Gallery presented at the Manitoba Legislative Building
• Eskimo Sculpture (and Drawings), Waddington Galleries
• Eskimo Sculpture: Selections from the Twomey Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
• Inspiration Four Decades of Sculpture, Marion Scott Gallery
• Inuit Art in the 1970s, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
• Inuit Master Artists of the 1970s, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Kanuitpit? Kunst und Kulturen der Eskimo: Eine Auswahl aus den Museumssammlungen, Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munchen
• Mother and Child: Selections from the Inuit Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Ontario
• Noel au Chateau - Art inuit de la collection Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Guelph, Ontario presented at Chateau Dufresne
• Pure Vision: The Keewatin Spirit, Norman McKenzie Art Gallery
• Qamanittuaq: The Art of Baker Lake, National Gallery of Canada
• Recent Sculptures by George Tattaniq, The Upstairs Gallery
• Sculpture, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council a competition/exhibition organized as a contribution to the Centennial of the N.W.T.
• Sculpture in Miniature, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• Sculpture of the Inuit: Masterwork Exhibitors of the Canadian Arctic, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver
• Sculpture/Inuit: Masterworks of the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council
• Selections from the John and Mary Robertson Collection of Inuit Art, Agnes Etherington Art Centre Queen's University
• The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood To Be Full, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Inuit Imagination, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Collections

• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City
• Eskimo Museum, Churchill
• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet
• Klamer Family Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
• Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Toronto-Dominion Bank Collection, Toronto
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• THIRTY YEARS OF PRINTMAKING AT CAPE DORSET, Author: McMichael Canadian Collection, Publication: Kleinburg: McMichael Canadian Collection (1989)