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• Auction House:
  Deutscher and Hackett
• Sale Name:
  Important Australian Indigenous Art
• Sale Date:
  22 Mar 2023 ~ 7pm (AEDT)
• Lot #:
  24
• Lot Description:
  Charlie Wartuma (Tarawa) Tjungurrayi
  (c.1921 - 1999)
  Untitled (Men’s Ceremony), 1972
  synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board
  61.0 x 51.0 cm
  bears inscription verso: artist's name, date and Stuart Art Centre cat. 19007
• Provenance:
  Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory (painting number 7, consignment 19); Private collection, Queensland; Private collection, Melbourne; Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 243 (as ‘Untitled, 1971’; Private collection, Tasmania; Joel Fine Art, Melbourne, 3 June 2008, lot 23; Private collection, Melbourne.            .
• Notes:
  Charlie Wartuma Tjungurrayi was one of the founding artists at Papunya in 1971, an important man in traditional ceremony, and according to Dick Kimber ‘a naturally good teacher who enjoyed introducing anyone with a genuine interest to his country, and discussing aspects of Pintupi culture.’1 One of the leading lights in the genesis of the Western Desert painting movement, he was a founding shareholder of Papunya Tula Artists when it was incorporated in November 1972, and is credited with giving the company its name. His experience with Europeans from an early age, meant that he became the spokesman for the Pintupi men in the early days of the painting movement.2 Painted on composition board, Untitled, 1972 relates to such paintings as Old Man Story, 1972, in the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin – a work which refers to the travels of the mythological Old Man.3 As in that work, Untitled is painted on a black ground with a central roundel linked to roundels at the four corners. Ovoid forms, possibly representing sacred boards, are randomly placed in the composition and left undecorated. The work retains a sense of balance and ancestral geometry devoid of any naturalistic imagery.   Wartuma developed a particularly strong friendship with the late Andrew Crocker, manager of Papunya Tula between 1980 and 1981, with whom he travelled to England and Hong Kong in 1982. Crocker subsequently organised a major retrospective of the artist's work, Charlie Tjaruru Tjungurrayi: A Retrospective 1970 – 1986, which toured four Australian states in 1987.   1. Kimber, R.G. (Dick), in Ryan, J. and Batty, P., Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2011, p. 211 2. Johnson, V., Lives of Papunya Tula Artists, IAD Press, Alice Springs, 2008 p. 57 3. This work is illustrated in Scholes, L. (ed.), Tjungunutja: From having come together, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 2017, p. 88 (illus.); and in Croker, A., Charlie Tjararu Tjungurrayi: A Retrospective 1970 – 1986, Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales, 1987, pp. 32 – 33 (illus.) CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE
• Estimate:
  A$50,000 - 70,000
• 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.