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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Peter Elliott Collection
• Sale Date:
  30 Aug 2015 ~ 6pm - Part 1 (Lots 1 - 193)
  31 Aug 2015 ~ 11am - Part 2 (Lots 194 - 340)
  31 Aug 2015 ~ 2pm - Part 3 (Lots 341 - 511)
  01 Sep 2015 ~ 10.30am - Part 4 (Lots 512 - 754) and 2pm - Part 5 (Lots 755 - 1013)
• Lot #:
  194
• Lot Description:
  Johnny Mosquito (Tjapangati)
  (1922-2004)
  Artist’s Country (Muntjukul) (1993)
  synthetic polymer paint on canvas
  152 x 75 cm
  bears Warlayirti Artists cat. no. 213/93 and Coo-ee Aboriginal Art cat. no. 49 verso
• Provenance:
  Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Western Australia; Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney; This painting is sold with a Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation certificate.
• Exhibited:
  Up Close and Personal: Works from the Collection of Dr Peter Elliott AM, S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney, August-September 2011
• Notes:
  This exceptional painting in the artist’s oeuvre is an image of ceremony. Its highly formal composition reflects the physical spatial arrangement of a ceremony where, as the accompanying documentation indicates, senior men are ‘making law’. The square shapes that represent elders are organized in groups surrounded by an outline, that is suggestive of kinship groupings according to moiety and sub-section. The division is emphasized by the use of different colours in the groupings. The black square-like form at the centre of the painting represents Mookoori Mookoori rockhole; to either side of it are hills; the three rounded forms across the top and the bottom of the painting represent hills as well. Karnti or bush potato is a staple food that grows abundantly in this region. John Mosquito was an elder with responsibilities the rainmaking rituals, a fundamental aspect of Kukatja life. His outstation was located at Kurtal, south west of Balgo. Kurtal is a sacred waterhole associated with the eponymous ancestor who controls the wet season, brings storm clouds, storms and rains that fertilize the land and sustain life. Mosquito’s traditional lands lie near Yagga Yagga on the southern reaches of the Kurtal ceremonial cycle that encompasses a vast area of the Great Sandy Desert. The specific site depicted is Muntjukul near the Canning Stock Route. For a similarly formal, hierarchical composition by John Mosquito, see Artist’s country (Kamarral), 1991, lot 32 in the Mossgreen auction catalogue of the Alan Boxer Collection of Indigenous Art, of 17 March 2015. Other related images by the artist are: Old man's Dreaming at Lapu,?1988, illustrated in Ryan, J., Mythscapes: Aboriginal art of the desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 1989, p.60; and Kungingurra Dreaming, 1992, in Cowan, J., Wirrimanu: Aboriginal art from the Balgo Hills, Sydney: Craftsman House, 1994, p.124, plate 56. Pundu, WA, 1995, another ceremonial image from the Marecaux Thompson Collection, is illustrated in Cowan, J., Balgo: New Directions, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1999, p.121, plate 45. Wally Caruana
• Estimate:
  A$10,000 - 15,000
• 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.