Lot 103: MURTIYARRU SUNFLY TJAMPITJIN CIRCA 1916-1996

MAWUKUPANTA 1992

MEASUREMENTS

100 by 50 cm

Bears artist's name, size and Warlayirti Artists catalogue number 213/92 on the reverse
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

PROVENANCE
Painted for Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills in 1992 Private collection, Sydney Cf. For a similar but earlier painting by the artist see 'Tjikerri', 1997, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, in Ryan, J., Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989, p.61, illus.; comparable works by the artist include 'Murunpa near Lake Mackay, WA', in the Laverty Collection, in Cowan, J., Balgo: New Directions, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1999, p.82, plate 26, illus., and 'Pinki Dreaming', 1991, previously in the Sam Barry Collection, in Cowan, J., Wirrimanu: Aboriginal Art from the Balgo Hills, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994, p.112, plate 45, illus. A characteristically bold and direct image in raw, primary colours, this is an iconic painting by an artist who was custodian of the highly esoteric and secret/sacred ancestral Tingari ceremonies. Sunfly's imagery exudes a potency and strength that creates a sense of grand scale, as befits his subjects and the landscape they inhabit Sunfly was represented in a number of major international exhibitions including L'été Australiènne à Montpellier: 100 chefs-d'oeuvre de la Peinture Australienne, at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, France, in 1990; Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, at the Union of Soviet Artists Gallery, Moscow and the Museum of Ethnographic Art, St. Petersburg, in 1991; Crossroads-Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, at the National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo in 1992; and Aratjara: Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists, at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Hayward Gallery, London and Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark, in 1993-94 This painting is sold with an accompanying Warlayirti Artists certificate with an annotated diagram together with a description of the story depicted that reads: 'Artist's country. A large "Warran" or claypan is shown and the surrounding country is bare of any trees. These features go back to the time of the Dreaming or Tjukurrpa and are explained in the law into which men are initiated. Wanyarra, the Rainbow Serpent, is believed to make it's home underneath this lake and its spirit is looked after by senior custodians such as the artist. Important sites linked with the Tingari Cycle are also found here'