Lot 66: Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri 1929 - 1984 BUSHFIRE DREAMING synthetic polymer paint on canvas board

bears artist's name, language group, size and Papunya Tula Artists catalogue number TL790116 on the reverse synthetic polymer paint on canvas board

60 by 71cm

Painted at Papunya in 1979
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
Private collection
Joel Fine Art, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 5 June 2007, Lot 141
Private collection

This painting is sold with an accompanying Papunya Tula Artists certificate that reads: 'During the "Dreaming" a father and son were camped at the site of Anyupa, which is now Napperby Station approximately 200 km north west of Alice Springs. Each day the men, who were of the Tjungurrayi and Tjapaltjarri kinship subsection, went out from their camp in search of food. They searched the rocky hills for euro and the flatter areas for kangaroo. One day when they returned from hunting they discovered their puri (wet weather shelter), had burnt down. This site is now marked by a large overhanging rock, which is said to be the metamorphosed shelter of mythological men.

The central set of concentric circles represents the men's camp while the sparks of the fire which consumed the shelter are depicted by small triangular shapes. The tracks of the men as they travelled out from the camp in search of food are represented by sinuous lines leading out to the edge of the painting. The shapes in the background represent the leaves used by the men to build the shade, while the grey dots are the ashes left by the fire.'