Lot 18: DICK NGULEINGULEI MURRAMURRA CIRCA 1920-1988 A BURIAL CEREMONY

bears artist's name Ngulei Ngulei [sic] on the reverse

61 BY 58.4CM

natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

The Art of Arnhem Land: From the Collection of William McE. Miller, Jr, The Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1966, cat.no.28

R. L. Shalkop, The Art of Arnhem Land: From the Collection of William McE. Miller, Jr, Colorado: The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1966, cat.no.28 (illus.)

Painted at Oenpelli (Gunbalanya), Western Arnhem Land
Collection of William McE. Miller, Jr, USA

The Art of Arnhem Land exhibition catalogue states,'...Dancers are elaborately costumed. Ceremonial spears are brandished by the men, while women enact their role at a distance. Overhead hovers a Mimi spirit. The bones of the deceased are placed in the hollow log at centre, which has been placed upright in a hole in the ground. A man with a didgeridoo (wooden horn) and one with tapping sticks accompany the dancers'.