Leading Australian indigenous artists feature at special Melbourne auction

Five Emily Kam Kngwarreye (c1910-1996) paintings are scattered throughout Deutscher and Hackett’s forthcoming Australian Indigenous Art auction from 7pm Wednesday March 26 in their Melbourne rooms at 105 Commercial Road, South Yarra – a testimony to how important this indigenous artist is to the Australian art scene.

The most valuable, with a catalogue estimate of $400,000-$600,000, is the colourful Untitled (Awelye), 1992 (lot 14), painted four years before she died and created at a time when she was undergoing a transformative process that included abandoning the background tracery of underlying yam roots.

With a $300,000-$400,000 catalogue estimate, Lin Onus’s (1948-1996) Arafura Swamp IV, 1996 (lot 12) is another important work. The son of an Aboriginal father and Scottish mother, Onus possessed the uncanny ability to capture the best of both the European and indigenous worlds on canvas.

This painting features two opposing landscape views of a site of great indigenous cultural significance in Arnhem Land completed when at the height of his abilities and not long before he died.

A work of significance with an estimate to match is Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford’s (1922-2007) Dingo Dreaming 2001 (lot 16), the artist’s unique representation of the Western Australian Kimberley region.

Rover Thomas (c1926-1998) is another household name in the indigenous art world and his work entitled Bow River Country, 1996 (lot 15) is typical of his paintings.

Thomas worked as a stockman on several cattle stations in the East Kimberley region and remembered his time at Bow River as part of the “good old days”.

Other auction paintings include works by Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c1924-20150 entitled Nyinyilki Country, 2010 (lot 6), a Kaladilt elder who began painting in her 80s.

Well-known artists Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula (1942-2001) and Jack Britten Joolama (c1925-2002) also are represented with their respective works Straightening Spears, 2010 (lot 42) and Purnululu (The Bungle Bungles), 1993 (lot 47).

Winner of the prestigious 2004 Wynne Prize for landscape painting at the Art Gallery of New South Wales – and only the second indigenous artist to do so – George Ward Tjungurrayi, who was born in the Western Australian desert before relocating with his family to the Northern Territory’s Papunya settlement, has Untitled, 2004 (lot 28) in the auction.  

This painting is a fine example of the artist’s designs and mesmerising composition, according to the catalogue entry.

A more contemporary artist is Brook Andrew (born 1970) whose Australia II: Peace, 2012 (lot 36) is a great example of mixed media on Belgian linen.

Among the bark paintings on offer is a work by well-known artist Balang Nakurulk (Mr Mawurndjul) (1952-2024) called Ngalyod, 1993 (lot 21).

 

Sydney viewing:

11am-6pm

Friday March 14 to Sunday March 16

36 Gosbell Street,

Paddington NSW

 

Melbourne viewing:

11am-6pm

Thursday March 20 to Tuesday March 25

105 Commercial Road,

South Yarra VIC