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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Marc & Elena Pinto Collection
• Sale Date:
  20 May 2015 ~ 6.30pm
• Lot #:
  55
• Lot Description:
  Jack Wherra
  (1920s-1978)
  Untitled (Kalumburu/Mowanjum Shield) (circa 1960s)
  carved wood and natural earth pigments
  83 cm high
• Provenance:
  Private Collection, Western Australia (1969); D'lan Davidson, Queensland (2003); Marc and Elena Pinto Collection, Perth
• Notes:
  A softwood shield, of typical north Kimberley form, the face covered with naturalistically painted images of fauna. A tortoise, serpents, kangaroo and bustards, are all interspersed among more esoteric, traditional icons including concentric circles and geometric forms the whole linked by the tracks of many of the animals depicted. Each motif is further highlighted, by being outlined with alternate red and white stippling. At one end an enigmatic figure emerges from a ground that may represent rocks or possibly clouds. The striking stippling creates the impression that one is looking at an astral map - the night sky with the Kimberley constellations depicted in all their glory. The reverse however depicts two men standing, one at each end, of an hourglass shaped, ceremonial ground. One man is carrying across his shoulders a thread-cross dancing accessory known in the north Kimberley as palga - the same term is used for performances in which these objects may be used. At the other end the second man carries spears and spearthrower. The manner in which the two men have been painted, both in the stance, and in the quality of draughtsmanship indicate that they were probably painted by noted Kimberley artist, Jack Wherra. The shield was probably made at Kalumburu where suitable wood was abundant and may have been painted there when Jack visited the community, or at Mowanjum, where he normally resided. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s there was a considerable trade in shields between the two communities, with men at Mowanjum reciprocating with pearl shell ornaments, cloth, and other sought after valuables. Better known for his beautifully engraved boab nuts, Jack was also a practised watercolourist, painting on paper as well as on wooden artefacts, and had also experimented with oilpaints. He could also paint in a more traditional style, decorating bark dishes, shields and spearthrowers with a variety of motifs including wanjina figures. Jack began his artistic career while a prisoner in Broome jail, doing time for a tribal murder. His artworks became quickly sought after and allowed him to purchase small luxuries to ease his term in prison. In the 1960s Jack worked closely with American anthropologist John McCaffrey who assembled a considerable collection of his work, including a painted shield. McCaffrey documented the iconography of a great number of Jack's engraved boab nuts and his records provide important insights into Aboriginal life in the north Kimberley in the first half of the last century. Kim Akerman
• Estimate:
  A$4,000 - 6,000
• 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.