Lot 61: Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri 1929 - 1984 UNTITLED synthetic polymer paint on composition board

bears Papunya Tula Artists catalogue number TL730915 on the reverse synthetic polymer paint on composition board

78.5 by 59.5cm

Painted at Papunya in September 1973
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
Private collection

The artist has depicted a ceremonial scene associated with the Fire Dreaming at Warlugulong. The body of the painting glows through a subtle modulation of red, over which clouds of thinly painted yellowish smoke engulf the landscape. A ceremony is depicted featuring the ancestral Mala Hare Wallaby of the Anmatyerre people as indicated by the ancestor's tracks running towards and away from the central circle representing the focus of the ritual site. The ceremonial participants are indicated by the U-shapes to either side of white-dotted concentric circles. The symmetrical composition is not only characteristic of much Anmatyerre painting, but it is intended to imply the ordered nature of the ritual, while the tracks of the ancestor intimate the rhythm of the performance.