Lot 27: CHARLIE NUMBULMOORE , BUSH SPIRITS 1971

Natural earth pigments on cardboard

71 by 63.5 cm

Acquired directly from the artist in 1971 by Tom McCourt on a visit to the Kimberley
Private collection, South Australia

These two figures in this painting appear to represent bush sprites found among the corpus of lesser cosmological beings that are found in North Kimberley mythology, rather than human beings. Mortals, when depicted, are usually shown equipped with objects such as spears and spearthrowers or coolamons in the case of female figures. Items of dress and traditional styles of hair-do are also used to differentiate humans from spirit beings ? except when it is obvious that the artist is reproducing spirit figures in the recently resurrected ancient Bradshaw/GwionGwion style.

The pantheon of demons and sprites is quite large and includes Arkula (evil or mischievous spirits of the dead), Narra-Narra (spirits of bees and honey) and Wurula beings (spirits of bush fruit/blossoms ? the source of the honey), Lulinja (sprites that steal from mortals) and Balubalulya (sprites that live on the coast). Arkula are usually depicted with long pointed ears ? very much like European depictions of imps, Balubalulya also have long ears but may be shown with the spears with which they catch the fish they eat. Nara-Nara spirit-beings are usually depicted holding the stone axes, with which they cut open the hives of the native honeybee. Other figures, such as the Wurula and Lulinja beings can only be identified by artists who painted them or the owners of the shelters in which they may be depicted.

These two figures clearly show the care with which Numblemoore executed the stippled infill of the body. While many other artists from the north Kimberley filled the body space of their Wanjinas and other figures with either stippling, short, dashed lines or longer parallel lines, none were as consistently regular in their work as Charlie Numblemoore.

Sotheby's wish to thank Kim Akerman for this catalogue entry