- 73
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula
bidding is closed
Description
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula
circa 1932-2001
Rain Dreaming with Ceremonial Man c.1971
Synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
91 by 75.5cm
Provenance:
Painted at Papunya in 1971
Geoffrey Bardon
Mrs. L. Bardon, Sydney
Cf. Perkins, H., & Fink, H., Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales in Association with Papunya Tula Artists, Sydney, 2000, pp.62, 64 for two works painted at approximately the same time in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
This major painting is probably the artist's largest work from the 1971/72 period and relates closely to two smaller paintings from late 1972 that were included in retrospective of the Papunya Tula Artists company, Genesis and Genius.
The site depicted in this work is almost certainly Kalipinypa, the key site over which the artist has authority, a storm centre and Water or Rain Dreaming totemic site. This painting depicts the activities of the ancestral Waterman, to the right, dressed in a ceremonial headdress, his body painted for ceremony. The site is depicted from an aerial perspective and is teaming with ceremonial activity; decorated ovoid shapes representing Tjuringa (sacred objects) lie scattered throughout the Kalipinypa complex, the footprints of the ceremonial man meander throughout, various important sites are represented by concentric circles and the new growth of bush tucker is depicted by a diverse range of iconography. The white ovoid forms emanating from the centre of the work most probably represent the growth of Yala (Bush Potato), the red and white spotted areas in the upper section almost certainly represent Kampurrarpa 'wild raison' (Solanum-Centrale), and the varying lines, dotting and change of colours denote the root growth under the soil of bush food after rain.
In his book, Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Geoffrey Bardon describes the painting of Johnny Warangkula as of major significance: 'they are strictly Aboriginal stories without conscious European influence, and yet they can be measured by the modern Aesthetic. ... his work has anecdotal intimacy, a candid freshness and spontaneity that beguiles by its individuality'. (Bardon 1991, p.53)
AU$ 120,000-180,000
circa 1932-2001
Rain Dreaming with Ceremonial Man c.1971
Synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
91 by 75.5cm
Provenance:
Painted at Papunya in 1971
Geoffrey Bardon
Mrs. L. Bardon, Sydney
Cf. Perkins, H., & Fink, H., Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales in Association with Papunya Tula Artists, Sydney, 2000, pp.62, 64 for two works painted at approximately the same time in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
This major painting is probably the artist's largest work from the 1971/72 period and relates closely to two smaller paintings from late 1972 that were included in retrospective of the Papunya Tula Artists company, Genesis and Genius.
The site depicted in this work is almost certainly Kalipinypa, the key site over which the artist has authority, a storm centre and Water or Rain Dreaming totemic site. This painting depicts the activities of the ancestral Waterman, to the right, dressed in a ceremonial headdress, his body painted for ceremony. The site is depicted from an aerial perspective and is teaming with ceremonial activity; decorated ovoid shapes representing Tjuringa (sacred objects) lie scattered throughout the Kalipinypa complex, the footprints of the ceremonial man meander throughout, various important sites are represented by concentric circles and the new growth of bush tucker is depicted by a diverse range of iconography. The white ovoid forms emanating from the centre of the work most probably represent the growth of Yala (Bush Potato), the red and white spotted areas in the upper section almost certainly represent Kampurrarpa 'wild raison' (Solanum-Centrale), and the varying lines, dotting and change of colours denote the root growth under the soil of bush food after rain.
In his book, Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Geoffrey Bardon describes the painting of Johnny Warangkula as of major significance: 'they are strictly Aboriginal stories without conscious European influence, and yet they can be measured by the modern Aesthetic. ... his work has anecdotal intimacy, a candid freshness and spontaneity that beguiles by its individuality'. (Bardon 1991, p.53)
AU$ 120,000-180,000