Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri circa 1926-1998 TJUNGINPA (MOUSE DREAMING)

Painted at Kintore in 1998
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
Private collection
Sotheby's, Aboriginal Art, Sydney, 28-29 July 2003, lot 116
Glenn Schaeffer Collection

The painting is housed in a fine minimilist shadow box frame. There is no apparent repairs or restoration, however there is minor scuffing in the corner of the canvas, at the stretcher.
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Cf. Hetti Perkins, & Hannah Fink, Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales in association with Papunya Tula Artists, 2000, p.150, illus., for a smaller related painting of the same subject matter and palette in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Namarari was one of the founding members of Papunya Tula Artists cooperative in 1972 and one of its leading artists. Towards the end of his career his works tended towards the more atmospheric and minimalistic - usually fields of stripes or dotting with less reliance on the use of symbols and icons often associated with narrative paintings from the desert, of which this painting, executed in the last months of his life, is an outstanding example.

This painting is sold with an accompanying Papunya Tula Artists certificate that reads: 'This painting depicts Tjunginpa (Mouse) Dreaming at the site of Tjunginpa, a hill site north-west of the Kintore Community. The overall dotting represents the footprints of each mouse and also kampurarrpa, an edible berry, which is eaten by the mouse. Men of Tjapaltjarri kinship subsection are the custodians for the ceremonies associated with this mythology.'