Lot 90: MUNGGURRAWUY YUNUPINGU , THE GREAT FIRE 1964

Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

137 by 53.5 cm

Painted in the Yirrkala region, North East Arnhem Land
James A. Davidson, Melbourne
Private collection, Victoria

Cf. The Bandicoot Spirits [The Great Bush Fire Story], c.1958, by the same artist illustrated in O?Ferrall, M.A., Keepers of the Secrets: Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, p.125, plate 12

Attached is a sheet with the artist's biographical details and a description of the painting, which describes the coming of fire for the Gumatj clan, which reads: 'Fire was created by ancestral Crocodile Man, Baru, during a ceremony in Madarrpa clan lands in eastern Arnhem Land. The fire spread to the lands of other clans thereby establishing the ritual links between them. Other ancestral beings are represented: Wild Honey, Water, the Spider, and the Bandicoot who escaped the fire by hiding in a hollow log'.