Aboriginal Art

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Lot 15
  • 15

Nym Djimungurr circa 1910-1970s

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
Sold
11,250 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Nym Djimungurr
  • Namarrkon, The Lightning Man
  • Bears labels on the reverse, identifying the artist as "bush native of Miella tribe", together with an explanation of the imagery and a certificate of authenticity from Dorothy Bennett.
  • Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
  • 66cm by 50cm

Provenance

Painted in Western Arnhem Land, circa 1963

Collected by Dorothy Bennett in Western Arnhem Land, most likely between 1962 and 1964

Tom and Adi Barnett, Vermont, USA

The Barnett Collection at Columbia University

Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 30 June, 1997, lot 94 (AU612)

Fiona Brockhoff, Melbourne

Exhibited

The Awakening Dream, Aboriginal Art From Australia's Far North, Helen Day Art Centre, Stowe, Vermont, 1995.

Literature

The Awakening Dream, Aboriginal Art From Australia's Far North, Helen Day Art Centre, Stowe, Vermont, pl.2, illus.

Catalogue Note

Label on reverse reads, “This is a typical figure of Western Arnhem Land where the richness of local rock art is paralleled by the imagery produced on bark paintings. The Lightning Man is generally depicted with, on his elbows and knees, stone axes which he crashes together to make thunder and lightning and to bring torrential floods. He represents the destructive power of nature, often a ring of lightning runs from his head round to his testicles drawing a parallel between sexual tension and a brewing storm”

Nym Djimungurr is recorded, along with compatriot Nadjombolmi, as being one of the most significant individual contributors to rock art in Western Arnhem Land.

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