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• Auction House:
  Deutscher and Hackett
• Sale Name:
  Important Australian Aboriginal Art
• Sale Date:
  30 Mar 2022 ~ 7pm (AEDT)
• Lot #:
  37
• Lot Description:
  Emily Kame Kngwarreye
  (c.1910 - 1996)
  Bush (Emily's) Dreaming, 1996
  synthetic polymer paint on linen
  230.0 x 124.5 cm
  bears inscription verso: artist's name, title, size and cat. EKK-5-96
• Provenance:
  Commissioned by the Chalmers Family on MacDonald Downs Station, bordering Delmore Downs Station, in 1996; Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Private collection, United States of America; Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 July 2007, lot 172; Private collection, Melbourne; Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 26 March 2014, lot 84; Private collection, Victoria
• Notes:
  Renowned for the expression of ceremony through her art, Emily Kame Kngwarreye painted the spiritual aspect of her life as it relates to country and 'Awelye' or women's ceremonies. Her mark making and abstract references to ceremonial practice identifies the relationship between individual, country, ceremony and ancestors. Ceremony, as expressed through narrative dance and body decoration, reinforces knowledge about such staples as bush foods and water sources, as well as teaching basic social codes and obligations. Through such paintings, Emily passes on her knowledge to those who follow her. In the 1990s, Emily Kngwarreye emerged as one of Australia's leading painters and her works became sought-after on an unprecedented scale. Kngwarreye's mark making revealed a strength and sureness of hand that delivered an exuberance of gesture. Her paintings were constructed of various elements that over time were either added to, or eliminated from the surface of the canvas. Underlying grids structure the compositions, with sequences of dots aligned between or over dots, dashes and linear marks, meandering lines and areas of dots applied on dots allowing a build-up of colour. These elements constitute the artist's lexicon and are used separately or in varying combinations, thus allowing her work to evolve and be constantly fresh. 'Bush (Emily’s) Dreaming', 1996 is a vibrant painting that belongs to a group of works produced between 1995 and 1996. This phase of her production was characterised by tangled massing of lines sometimes scrawled across the canvas. Scribbled in character, these rapid, multicoloured marks evoke the spiky angularity of desert grasses and contrast with the solid meandering lines of the preceding yam paintings. Sometimes translucent in nature and at other times thick and textural, their immediacy shows a speed and energy in brushwork. Emily's career began in the late 1980s, and in the years until her death in 1996, she produced a body of work which radically altered the way in which we see and understand modern Aboriginal art. For most of her life she lived with little contact to the outside world. While much has been made of the way in which we might view her work in parallel with modern, non-indigenous abstraction, we must first recognise her achievement as a truly inventive and original contribution to Aboriginal art. CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE
• Estimate:
  A$100,000 - 150,000
• 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.