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Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
bidding is closed
Description
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
born circa 1932
Honey Ant Ceremony 1972
Synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
Bears label attached to the reverse with artist's name, Stuart Art Centre consignment number and an annotated diagram
100 by 78cm
Provenance:
Painted at Papunya in the second quarter of 1972
Painting number 1, consignment 16 to the Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs
Aboriginal Art Centre, Adelaide
Private collection, South Australia
Cf. Johnson, V., The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994, p.34, pl.31 for a work that is attributed as being the artists first painting; Maughan, J., & Zimmer, J., Dot & Circle: A Retrospective Survey of the Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings of Central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, 1986, p.57 for the published listings of the works included in consignment 16 to the Stuart Art Centre. This indicates that this painting is the artists first recorded work, and may possibly be his first painting.
This was the first painting in Consignment No. 16, consisting of twelve boards by various Anmatyerre artists, which was delivered to the Stuart Art Centre in the second quarter of 1972. Concentric circles with eight underlying whorls overlapping each other - like the three in red down the centre of the painting - are associated in the artist's work with Honey Ant Dreaming, notably at the site of Yuulrrku (ref. 'Yuutjutiyungu' 1979 cf. V., Johnson, The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Craftsman House, Australia, 1994, pp.70-71 and 160-161). They are a depiction of the underground nests of the Honey Ants as excavated by an ancestral woman, whose pubic belt and digging stick appear in miniature around the red rim of the large oval shape of the shield, symbolising a large gathering for ceremonial purposes. Also shown here are items associated with men: boomerangs, stone knives and axes, hair string belts and sacred boards or tjuringas - larger versions of which are placed down either side of the painting. Traditional Anmatyerre symmetry is also evident in the dotted concentric circles flanking the oval, which represent ground paintings. The site depicted may be Yuulrrku, or more likely Yinyalingi, where in mythological times, groups of Honey Ant people gathered from men's and women's ceremonies (cf. Yinyalingi (Honey Ant Dreaming Story)' ibid. p.97). Like the shading on the Honey Ant designs which gives a raised effect, the infilling of yellow whorled arcs on red and black backgrounds shows the influence of western perspective, creating the illusion of looking down one of the tunnels dug by the ancestral woman. According to the diagram, this patterning represents 'growth' - perhaps of the roots of the mulga trees amongst which the Honey Ants live and whose flowers' nectar the worker ants gather to fill the abdomens of the 'storehouse' ants, a highly prized delicacy among the desert peoples.
&copr;Vivien Johnson
Sotheby's wishes to thank Dr. Vivien Johnson for contributing this catalogue entry.
AU$ 100,000-150,000
born circa 1932
Honey Ant Ceremony 1972
Synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
Bears label attached to the reverse with artist's name, Stuart Art Centre consignment number and an annotated diagram
100 by 78cm
Provenance:
Painted at Papunya in the second quarter of 1972
Painting number 1, consignment 16 to the Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs
Aboriginal Art Centre, Adelaide
Private collection, South Australia
Cf. Johnson, V., The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994, p.34, pl.31 for a work that is attributed as being the artists first painting; Maughan, J., & Zimmer, J., Dot & Circle: A Retrospective Survey of the Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings of Central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, 1986, p.57 for the published listings of the works included in consignment 16 to the Stuart Art Centre. This indicates that this painting is the artists first recorded work, and may possibly be his first painting.
This was the first painting in Consignment No. 16, consisting of twelve boards by various Anmatyerre artists, which was delivered to the Stuart Art Centre in the second quarter of 1972. Concentric circles with eight underlying whorls overlapping each other - like the three in red down the centre of the painting - are associated in the artist's work with Honey Ant Dreaming, notably at the site of Yuulrrku (ref. 'Yuutjutiyungu' 1979 cf. V., Johnson, The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Craftsman House, Australia, 1994, pp.70-71 and 160-161). They are a depiction of the underground nests of the Honey Ants as excavated by an ancestral woman, whose pubic belt and digging stick appear in miniature around the red rim of the large oval shape of the shield, symbolising a large gathering for ceremonial purposes. Also shown here are items associated with men: boomerangs, stone knives and axes, hair string belts and sacred boards or tjuringas - larger versions of which are placed down either side of the painting. Traditional Anmatyerre symmetry is also evident in the dotted concentric circles flanking the oval, which represent ground paintings. The site depicted may be Yuulrrku, or more likely Yinyalingi, where in mythological times, groups of Honey Ant people gathered from men's and women's ceremonies (cf. Yinyalingi (Honey Ant Dreaming Story)' ibid. p.97). Like the shading on the Honey Ant designs which gives a raised effect, the infilling of yellow whorled arcs on red and black backgrounds shows the influence of western perspective, creating the illusion of looking down one of the tunnels dug by the ancestral woman. According to the diagram, this patterning represents 'growth' - perhaps of the roots of the mulga trees amongst which the Honey Ants live and whose flowers' nectar the worker ants gather to fill the abdomens of the 'storehouse' ants, a highly prized delicacy among the desert peoples.
&copr;Vivien Johnson
Sotheby's wishes to thank Dr. Vivien Johnson for contributing this catalogue entry.
AU$ 100,000-150,000