- 75
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula
bidding is closed
Description
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula
circa 1932-2001
WATER DREAMING 1977
Synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
Bears artist's name and inscribed GB 77 on the reverse
62 by 45cm
Provenance:
Painted when Bardon returned to Papunya in 1977 to make the film 'Mick and the Moon'.
Geoffrey Bardon
Mrs. L. Bardon, Sydney
Literature:
Bardon, G Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Rigby, Adelaide, 1979, pp.28-29, illus. p.29
Bardon writes with regards to this work: 'This is the classic Water Dreaming situation: a Waterman is in his cave singing; there is running water; the storm clouds gather - as shown by the broken shapes at the top of the painting - and it rains. The curved line, as always, represents the man. The layers of rock in the cave are indicated by the linear dotting. The top half of the design has simple shapes representing storm clouds. The images are valid simplifications of natural phenomena and beautifully symbolise the idea of the Water Dream. The concentric circles represent the waterman's fire place.
Johnny's work best characterises the transition that occurred during my time with the painting men. He was consciously visual and aimed at narrative simultaneity, where his special brilliance and enthusiasm make him unique. Drawing with a brush involves skill and his early work shows clumsy method. However, he always showed great assurance in his direct approach and expansion of his stories. His calligraphic line and smearing brush-work is accompanied by dotted ornamentation. He gradually reduces these linear elements to achieve visual results using dots and over-dotting. This becomes an intensely personal style of tremulous illusion, and his stories are narratives of great visual power'. (Bardon 1979, p.28)
Alongside the work in Bardon's 1979 publication, is an annotated diagram that identifies the white linear lines at the sides and bottom of the work as running water. The 'U' shape in the lower centre as the Waterman in his cave singing, surrounded by the broader 'U' shape representing a layer of rock in the cave. The concentric circle in the centre is the waterman's fireplace and the dotted cloud shapes at the top as clouds, and the two striped ovoid forms as rain.
AU$ 70,000-100,000
circa 1932-2001
WATER DREAMING 1977
Synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
Bears artist's name and inscribed GB 77 on the reverse
62 by 45cm
Provenance:
Painted when Bardon returned to Papunya in 1977 to make the film 'Mick and the Moon'.
Geoffrey Bardon
Mrs. L. Bardon, Sydney
Literature:
Bardon, G Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Rigby, Adelaide, 1979, pp.28-29, illus. p.29
Bardon writes with regards to this work: 'This is the classic Water Dreaming situation: a Waterman is in his cave singing; there is running water; the storm clouds gather - as shown by the broken shapes at the top of the painting - and it rains. The curved line, as always, represents the man. The layers of rock in the cave are indicated by the linear dotting. The top half of the design has simple shapes representing storm clouds. The images are valid simplifications of natural phenomena and beautifully symbolise the idea of the Water Dream. The concentric circles represent the waterman's fire place.
Johnny's work best characterises the transition that occurred during my time with the painting men. He was consciously visual and aimed at narrative simultaneity, where his special brilliance and enthusiasm make him unique. Drawing with a brush involves skill and his early work shows clumsy method. However, he always showed great assurance in his direct approach and expansion of his stories. His calligraphic line and smearing brush-work is accompanied by dotted ornamentation. He gradually reduces these linear elements to achieve visual results using dots and over-dotting. This becomes an intensely personal style of tremulous illusion, and his stories are narratives of great visual power'. (Bardon 1979, p.28)
Alongside the work in Bardon's 1979 publication, is an annotated diagram that identifies the white linear lines at the sides and bottom of the work as running water. The 'U' shape in the lower centre as the Waterman in his cave singing, surrounded by the broader 'U' shape representing a layer of rock in the cave. The concentric circle in the centre is the waterman's fireplace and the dotted cloud shapes at the top as clouds, and the two striped ovoid forms as rain.
AU$ 70,000-100,000