Aboriginal Art

FRED WARD TJUNGURRAYI | PATJANJA

Auction Closed

December 13, 10:40 PM GMT

Estimate

7,000 - 10,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a New York Private Collection

FRED WARD TJUNGURRAYI

BORN CIRCA 1955

PATJANJA

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Bears artists nane and Papunya Tula Artists catalogue number FW871013 on the reverse, sold with accompanying Papunya Tula Artists documentation that reads in part, 'This painting depicts designs associated with the site of Patjanja, to the south of the Kiwirrkurra Community. The roundels show the camp sites of a large group of men. At either side of the work, the artist has shown the men's spears.'

72 in by 59 ⅞ in (183 cm by 152 cm)

Painted at Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia, in October 1987

Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs

Tambaran Gallery, New York

Private Collection, New York, acquired from the above, November 1987

Pintupi artist Fred Ward Tjungurrayi was born at Purkitjarra (east of Kiwirrkurra) in pre-contact times and came with his family into the Warburton community in remote Western Australia in the 1960s. He returned to the newly settled Pintupi community of Kiwirrkurra in 1984 and began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in August 1987. From the outset he tackled large scale canvases, his work being distinctive for its powerful designs and being austerely traditional. Hi first solo exhibition was held late in 1987, around the same time as this painting was exhibited and sold in New York, and in 1989 he won the Northern Territory Art Award.

Fred Ward Tjungurrayi's masterwork Tingari Travels at Kiwirrkurra 1990, is featured on the cover of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' landmark exhibtion Paounya Tula - Genesis and Genius, widely regarded as the most important exhibtion ever mounted focussing on the paintings of the Papunya Tula Artists. After spending some time in the communiyies of Patjarr and Karilwara between 1992 and 1994, Tjungurrayi returned to Warburton where he now lives with his wife and family.