VARIOUS ARTISTS

Executed in August and September 1971 in Geoffery Bardon's flat and adjoining carport at Papunya
Geoffery Bardon Drawing and Watercolour Painting Collection
Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney
Private collection, the Netherlands

All the drawings and watercolours were exhibited in Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2000

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 illustrations of, D2 at p.95, Bardon's Drawing 1; D4 at p.96, Drawing 2; D7 at p.96, Drawing 4; D8 at p.97, Drawing 5; P2 at p.101, Painting 6; P5 at p.102, Painting 8; P8 at p.104, Painting 11; and P9 at p.104, Painting 12
Bardon, G., Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, McPhee Gribble, Melbourne, 1991, p.25, Drawing 7 by Uta Uta Tjangala

This lot has been professionally conserved by E. Elijhoff Nasser. If you would like a full 34 page condiiton report from the conservator please request through the administrators and a copy can be faxed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

These drawings and watercolours are sold with extensive documentation prepared by Geoffrey Bardon together with photographs of their installation in Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, together with condition and conservation reports by E. Nijhoff Asser, Amsterdam

Two important collections of Pintupi drawings and watercolours formally in the collection of Geoffrey Bardon

LOT 93 - 94

These drawings herald the dawn of a painting movement that has taken the Australian art world by storm - paintings by Aboriginal artists from the central and western deserts of the continent. The movement, where, for the first time, desert artists made flat, portable paintings destined for the public domain, had its origins in the government settlement of Papunya, some 350 kms west of Alice Springs, in 1971. Today, dozens of art centres are spread across the region, and Pintupi painters now comprise the majority of artists working through Papunya Tula Artists cooperative.

In 1971, however, the 'new' Pintupi were the last tribal group to be relocated from the traditional lands, which lie far to the west along the Western Australian border with the Northern Territory, to Papunya. For this group of Pintupi, contact with Europeans had been recent and limited. The circumstances in which these drawings were made are historically significant. The Pintupi's sense of alienation at Papunya in the early 1970s was acute, in part due to the distance from their traditional country, and due to the confines of the settlement with its strict regimes. As a result, many Pintupi moved out of Papunya to establish their own camp on the western periphery of the settlement, closer, albeit only marginally, but significant symbolically, to their traditional homelands.

The drawings represent the first tentative steps that brought Pintupi art into the modern world. Geoffrey Bardon, the art teacher at Papunya who was the catalyst for the painting movement, had arrived at the settlement in February 1971, and commenced working with the artists in June when they painted the first murals at the Papunya school. Those involved in the murals were largely Anmatyerre Arrernte men such as Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa and Old Mick Tjakamarra, and Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra and Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula who are Luritja.

By late August, the first of these drawings were made for Bardon. At that stage he was not well acquainted with the 'new' Pintupi and hence was not able to identify the creators of all of the drawings that were made, mostly on the cement verandah floor or on the ground outside his flat at Papunya. The Pintupi aimed to keep their privacy, and visited Bardon's flat on several occasions where they could draw in seclusion.

Bardon termed the drawings 'mind maps' and 'archetypes' for the paintings that were to follow. Many of the drawings feature spiralling lines rather than the concentric circles so characteristic of the early paintings and still the favoured iconographic device for Pintupi paintings today. The other graphic elements which appear in the drawings are U-shapes that indicate people, straight journey lines that connect roundels to form the archetypical matrices, meandering lines indicating flowing water, and, occasionally the tracks of animals. A number of the works carry the artist's mark.

These drawings act as templates for a series of paintings by the same Pintupi artists, using found materials such as scraps of building boards, cardboard box sides and linoleum floor tiles as supports which in turn lead to the first paintings on composition board, and eventually on canvas.

Bardon's published records show that, in all, he had collected 18 pencil drawings and 14 watercolours on paper, of which 25 are reproduced in Bardon and Bardon 2004 (pp.95–104). Of these, Drawings numbered 8 to 13 are Bardon's tracings of original drawings that 'were damaged and have not survived.' (ibid. p.98). Painting number 4, Archetypal mind-map (Example 4) by an unknown artist, was sold at the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal Auction (lot 16) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on 11 November 2000. All the drawings were executed in August and September 1971.