Lot 78: TOMMY LOWRY TJAPALTJARRI CIRCA 1935-1987

WOMAN'S DREAMING 1972

MEASUREMENTS

65 by 46 cm

Bears Stuart Art Centre consignment number 14008 in felt pen together with attached Stuart Art Centre label on the reverse
Synthetic polymer powder paint and PVA on composition board

PROVENANCE
Painted at Papunya in March-April 1972 Painting number 8, consigment 14 to the Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs Sotheby's Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 30 June, 1997, lot 211 Private collection, Sydney
LITERATURE
Bardon, G. and J. Bardon, Papunya, A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004, for an illustration of the original field notes and diagram by Geoffrey Bardon; p.367, painting number 317, illus. Cf. For other paintings by the artist see 'Untitled', 1971, in Perkins, H. and H. Fink (eds.), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales in association with Papunya Tula Artists, Sydney, 2000, illus. p.12; and Crocker, A. (ed.), Mr Sandman Bring Me a Dream, Aboriginal Artists Agency and Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, 1981, pp.42-43 Tommy Lowry lived at Docker River and was not a regular painter for Papunya Tula Artists. Geoffrey Bardon describes him as a 'colourful and raw 'personality' (Bardon and Bardon, 2004, p.367), attributes which according to Crocker (1981, p.42) lend 'his work a naïve quality and a certain freshness.' The painting depicts a large ceremonial scene undertaken by women who are depicted as the U-shapes beside their oval-shaped dancing boards. The central roundel is a waterhole from which emanate five streams of water running to sets of ceremonial camps. The red concentric circles indicate camp fires. The artist was also known as Tommy Tichiwan Tjapaltjarri No. IV