Lot #1 - Tommy Mitchell
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Auction House:Mossgreen
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Sale Name:Australian Indigenous & Oceanic Art
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Sale Date:21 Jul 2015 ~ 6.30pm
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Lot #:1
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Lot Description:Tommy Mitchell
(born circa 1943)
Wakalpuka (2011)
synthetic polymer paint on linen
bears Warakurna Artists cat. no. 730-11 verso
101.3 x 76 cm -
Provenance:Warakurna Artists, Western Australia; Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Sydney; Private Collection, Sydney (acquired from the above); This painting is sold with a Warakurna Artists certificate.
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Notes:In his canvas paintings, Tommy Mitchell had the ability to evoke a sense of the elemental forces of nature that complimented the physical and ancestral aspects of the landscape. He was raised in the traditional manner living off the land with his family in the harsh environs of the Gibson Desert. He grew to be a senior law man and ceremonial leader among the Ngaanyatjarra. Apart from painting, Tommy Mitchell was also renowned for carving ceremonial weapons. From 2005 Mitchell emerged as one of the leading artists based in the community of Warakurna some 300 kilometres west of Uluru. The country depicted in this painting, Wakalpulka, belongs to his mother's people. It is a place which used to abound in patjarrtja, the native quoll, that is now all but extinct due to, according to the artist, the introduction of feral cats. The marsupial's typical behavioural pattern sees it scamper across the ground and dig holes in the earth. Mitchell's composition suggests movement across different types of terrain where the gridded squares map a place or site, in contrast to the scurrying movement of the irregularly dotted lines. The extraordinary chromatic range of this painting set within a Paul Klee-like colour matrix exudes a sense of celebration of Country brimming with ancestral forces underground. Wally Caruana
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Estimate:A$5,000 - 7,000
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Realised Price:
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Category:Art
This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.
