Lot #1 - Yirawala
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Auction House:Deutscher and Hackett
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Sale Name:Important Indigenous Art
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Sale Date:25 May 2016 ~ 7pm
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Lot #:1
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Lot Description:Yirawala
(c.1895 – 1976)
Malevolent Female Spirit Figure, 1965
natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
111.0 x 24.5 cm
bears inscription verso: cat. 05417 -
Provenance:Acquired at Minjilang, Croker Island, by a member of Malcolm Douglas’s production crew during the filming of the documentary Across the Top; Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 15 – 16 November 2005, lot 82 (as ‘Mimih Figure’); Collection of the late Duncan Kentish, Adelaide
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Notes:Kundaagi, the Red Plains Kangaroo, is the ancestral being for whom the first Lorrkkon (second burial ceremony) was performed in western Arnhem Land. His mother, the creator ancestress Yingarna had collected the bones of the dead kangaroo and placed them inside a hollow log, also known as a Lorrkkon, and performed a second burial ceremony. Subsequently the ceremony has been performed by the Kunwinjku and Kuninjku people to mark the safe arrival of the soul of the deceased to the ancestral realm. The x-ray style of painting employed by Yirawala is characteristic of western Arnhem Land art and here features the internal organs of the kangaroo (the heart, liver, stomach and intestines), as well as the ribs and backbone, thus linking the image to death and the burial ceremony. The figure of Kundaagi is decorated in clan designs such as those painted onto the bodies of performers in the ceremony. Yirawala has drawn a variant of the design onto the figures of the three northern bandicoots which are likely to represent young initiates, probably from a different clan to that of the deceased, who attend Lorrkkon ceremonies for educational purposes. Kundaagi and the Lorrkkon ceremony is a recurring theme in Yirawala’s oeuvre. WALLY CARUANA
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Estimate:A$10,000 - 15,000
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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.
