Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula Art Value Price Guide

Mar. 22, 2023
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA, TWO MEN DREAMING, 1991
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA (1922 - 1993) TWO MEN DREAMING, 1991 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 150.0 x 75.0 cm bears inscription verso: artist’s name, size and Warlayirti Artists cat. 585/91 PROVENANCE Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills, Western Australia Kimberley Art Gallery, Melbourne The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in April 1997 EXHIBITED Recent Works from Balgo Hills, Kimberley Art, Melbourne, 7 – 21 August 1995, cat. 2 LITERATURE Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, edition II, Kleimeyer Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2011, pp. 153 (illus.), 388 © Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Oct. 20, 2020
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula - Untitled, 1987
Est: $4,500 - $6,500
Born 'in the bushâ near the present site of the Kiwirrkurra community c.1925, Donkeyman Lee was a Kukatja speaker who lived most of his life after contact with the outside world at Balgo Hills, far to the north. Donkeyman's principal site was Walla Walla, just out of Kiwirrkurra, and his paintings, which he began producing in 1985 at Balgo, are mainly Tingari stories for this area. He was an incredibly gifted artist and one of Balgoâs finest male painters in the 1980s. His works are similar in their cartographic complexity to those by his contemporary, Wimmitji Tjampangati. They convey the inherent power located within specific sites. Donkeyman conveyed a powerful sense of his desert country through works that were distinctive for the bold layout and execution expected of an man deeply seeped in Menâs Law. All his works communicate something of the artist's sense of power of the land. His legacy, as part of the first generation of Balgo Artists, is as profound as the deep wellsprings of his knowledge, and his standing as a senior custodian and participant in sacred Menâs Law.
Cooee Art
Mar. 20, 2018
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA (1925-1993) Eagle and Goanna acrylic on canvas
Est: $1,200 - $1,800
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA (1925-1993) Eagle and Goanna acrylic on canvas inscribed verso with artist's name and cat no.87649-S 88.5 x 118.5cm
Leonard Joel
May. 25, 2016
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA, (1922 1993), WATI KUTJARI AT WILKINPA, 1991, synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Est: $12,000 - $15,000
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA, (1922 1993), WATI KUTJARI AT WILKINPA, 1991, synthetic polymer paint on canvas SIGNED: bears inscription verso: artist's name, size and Warlayirti Artists cat. 231/91 DIMENSIONS: 180.0 x 120.0 cm PROVENANCE: Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne (label attached verso) Hunter collection, Sydney (label attached verso) Sotheby's, Melbourne, 26 June 2000, lot 126 Private collection, Sydney Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 14 October 2009, lot 15 Private collection, New South Wales EXHIBITED: Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert: Paintings by Australian Artists from Papunya, Balgo Hills and Utopia, Union of Soviet Artists Gallery, Moscow, May June 1991, and Museum of Ethnographic Art, St Petersburg, November 1991 January 1992 LITERATURE: Pizzi, G., Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert; Paintings by Australian Artists from Papunya, Balgo Hills and Utopia, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 1991, p. 61 (illus.)
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 28, 2013
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula circa 1925-1993 WATI KUTJARRA (1990) synthetic polymer paint on linen
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula circa 1925-1993 WATI KUTJARRA (1990) synthetic polymer paint on linen 120 X 180CM PROVENANCE Painted at Wirrimanu, Balgo Hills Warlayirti Artist's, Western Australia (stock 268/90) Private Collection Contemporary and Aboriginal Art, Sotheby's Australia, Melbourne, 18 June 1995, lot 412, illustrated Private Collection Aboriginal Art, Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, 23 November 2004, lot 315, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney This painting is sold with a Warlayirti Artist's certificate
Smith & Singer
Oct. 15, 2012
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula circa 1925-1993 ARTIST'S COUNTRY (1992) synthetic polymer paint on linen
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula circa 1925-1993 ARTIST'S COUNTRY (1992) synthetic polymer paint on linen 150 X 75CM PROVENANCE Painted at Wirrimanu, Balgo Hills Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia (stock 447/92) Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney Hunter Collection, Sydney Aboriginal Art, Sotheby's Australia, Melbourne, 26 June 2000, lot 115, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne This painting is sold with a Warlayirti Artists certificate
Smith & Singer
Oct. 15, 2012
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula circa 1925-1993 WILKINKARRA (LAKE MACKAY) (1991) synthetic polymer paint on linen
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula circa 1925-1993 WILKINKARRA (LAKE MACKAY) (1991) synthetic polymer paint on linen 149 X 75CM PROVENANCE Painted at Wirrimanu, Balgo Hills Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia (stock 162/91) Private Collection, Queensland This painting is sold with a Warlayirti Artists certificate
Smith & Singer
Oct. 14, 2009
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA Wati Kutjari At Wilkinpa,
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA Wati Kutjari At Wilkinpa, 1991 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 180.0 x 120.0 cm
Deutscher and Hackett
Oct. 20, 2008
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA , 1925 - 1993 PAINTED COOLAMON Natural earth pigments on natural softwood
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
Natural earth pigments on natural softwood
Sotheby's
Nov. 25, 2007
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA , 1925 - 1993 NATIVE CAT DREAMING Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Est: $15,000 - $25,000
Bears artist's name, size and Warlayirti Artists catalogue number 63/89 on the reverse Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Sotheby's
Jul. 26, 2004
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA 1925-1993 WALA WALA 1989 118 by 178 cm Synthetic polymer paint on canvas Bears artist's name 'Donkeyman Lee' size and Warlayirti Artists catalogue number 556/89 together with exhibition label on the reverse Provenance:
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA 1925-1993 WALA WALA 1989 118 by 178 cm Synthetic polymer paint on canvas Bears artist's name 'Donkeyman Lee' size and Warlayirti Artists catalogue number 556/89 together with exhibition label on the reverse Provenance: Painted in 1989 at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills), for Warlayirti Artists Dreamtime Gallery, Brisbane The Sam Barry Collection Exhibited: Dreamtime Gallery, Brisbane 1989 of the Western Desert, Bond University University Campus Gallery, Queensland, 18-31 October 1990, exhibition label on the reverse Dreamtime: Zeitgenossische Aboriginal Art/The Darkness and the Light, Sammlung Essl, Vienna, 18 May 2001 - 30 September 2001 Literature: Eather, M., Dreamtime: Zeitgenossische Aboriginal Art/The Darkness and the Light, Edition Sammlung Essl, Vienna, 2001, illus. p.68 Cf. Tingari Dreaming at Walla Walla, 1989, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, illustrated in Ryan, J. and K. Akerman, Images of Power: of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993, p.97. This painting is sold with an accompanying certificate from Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills that reads in part: 'Artist's Country. This painting shows the features and the Dreaming stories for this man's country. "Kaninyarra" and "Wilkin" were two Tingari Men travelling around the place in the Dreamtime and here they have the forms of snakes. One of them died here and is still at this spot. The two eagles are eating kangaroo and their activities are now seen in the Wala Wala Hills. The wallaby camped here at "Putjangka" and this is seen today in some claypans. The artist lived here prior to white contact.'
Sotheby's
Jul. 26, 2004
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA 1925-1993 NATIVE CAT DREAMING 1989 159 by 79 cm Synthetic polymer paint on canvas Bears artist's name, size and Warlayirti Artists catalogue number 63/89 on the reverse Provenance: Painted at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) in 1989
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
DONKEYMAN LEE TJUPURRULA 1925-1993 NATIVE CAT DREAMING 1989 159 by 79 cm Synthetic polymer paint on canvas Bears artist's name, size and Warlayirti Artists catalogue number 63/89 on the reverse Provenance: Painted at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) in 1989 for Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia Dreamtime Gallery, Brisbane The Sam Barry Collection Exhibited: Dreamtime Gallery, Brisbane 1989 of the Western Desert, Bond University Campus Gallery, Queensland, 18-31 October 1990 Literature: Cowan, J., Wirrimanu: from the Balgo Hills, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994, illus. pp.114-115, plate 48 This painting is sold with an accompanying certificate from Warlayirti Artists, that reads in part: 'Tingarri (Native Cat) Dreaming and Law site. Young boys are brought here by the men to be initiated...The lines and circles are specific paths and sites used in the rituals of the ceremony (Turuku). The circle and line design is also used as a body painting design during the ceremonies... and the boomerangs are left behind to become sandhills after the ceremony.'
Sotheby's