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| home | news lRock painting among stars of aboriginal art show in London1 July 2004 - LONDON (AFP) - Leading works of Australian aboriginal art due to go under the hammer later this year in Australia went on show in central London, the first time Britain's capital has played host to such an exhibition. The only known painting of Australia's iconic landmark, Ayers Rock, by one of the country's greatest painters, Rover Thomas, is the star attraction at galleries owned by Sotheby's auction house. The painting entitled "Uluru" -- the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock -- is expected to fetch up to one million Australian dollars (580,000 euros, 700,000 US dollars) when it goes up for auction in Melbourne on July 26. The 1987 work by Thomas, who died in 1998, is a striking view of the rock from above, its bright red-brown shapes surrounded by white dots against a black ochre background. "Aboriginal art is of world interest," said Sotheby's director Tim Klingender. "We thought it was time that Londoners, with their booming contemporary art scene, be given the opportunity to see exceptional Australian indigenous art of a quality that has never been exhibited in the UK before," he said. The exhibition, which runs till Monday, features examples of the earliest Western Desert "dot" paintings, such as Charlie Tjungurrayi's "A Trial", estimated to fetch up to 100,000 dollars. Another highlight of the annual exhibition, which has previously toured New York and Paris, is "The Sam Barry Collection of Paintings from Balgo Hills". Also on view are bark paintings, 19th century shields, Great Sandy Desert sculptures, 19th century drawings by William Barak and Tommy McRae, and major contemporary works by much-sought after desert painters. "We are pleased to be able to give Londoners the opportunity to see some of the finest works ever produced by artists from the world's oldest continuing culture," Klingender said. Source: AFP Sotherby's Australia To Offer The Largest And Most Valuable Collection Of Australian Indigenous Art Ever Assembled For sale By Auction Media Release 1 July 2004 AUCTION DATES: 28 & 29TH JULY 2003 Tim Klingender, Director of Aboriginal Art at Sotheby's explained, 'this years sale represents both the largest and most valuable collection of Australian Indigenous art ever assembled for auction, and includes an extraordinarily diverse selection of significant art and artefacts. We are anticipating another record result, with strong bidding from the Americas, Asia, Europe and throughout Australia'. Featured on the cover of the catalogue is a detail of the magnificent Ngurrara Canvas 1, a monumental collaborative masterpiece, painted in 1996 by artists represented by the Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency, for their Native Title claim to 800,000 hectares of the Great Sandy Desert. When mounted for exhibition the painting is over 5 metres high and 8 metres long, and is truly spectacular. Prior to the auction the painting has been featured on the front cover of The New York Times - Arts section, and the subject of a major feature article in The New Yorker magazine, attracting unprecedented institutional interest both in Australia and internationally. Consigned to Sotheby's by the artists, this important painting is conservatively estimated at $300,000-500,000. Other highlights include the Collection of The Reverend Allan Rankine, superintendent of the Yirrkala Methodist Mission in North East Arnhem Land 1958 - 1962. During this period, under the growing threat of Bauxite mining overtaking their sacred lands, the Yolgnu ritual leaders produced a group of large scale paintings of great complexity in order to illuminate outsiders of their indisputable and religious attachment to their lands. The collaborative bark painting depicting Yalangbara, can be closely compared to the large works of the same period collected by Dr. Stuart Scougall and Tony Tuckson for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and is a pre-cursor to the famed Yirrkala Church Panels, now housed in the Buku-Larrngay Mulka (The Art Centre at Yirrkala). The sale includes a number of rare paintings from the Kimberley region depicting Wanjina, by artists such as Charlie Numbelmoore, Wattie Karrawara, and Alec Mingelmanganu. Estimated at $150,000/250,000, Mingelmanganu's haunting Wanjina 1980, is the first painting to be offered by the artist since Sotheby's achieved a new auction record of $244,500 (against a pre-sale estimate $70,000-100,00) for a related work in last years sale. Amongst the paintings by Rover Thomas included are a major work commissioned by Mary Macha Massacre Site - Old Texas Downs 1991, ($250,000-350,000), which is sold with a CD recording of Rover describing the meaning of the iconography depicted; Buragu (Lake Gregory) 1988 ($150,000/250,000) and Yillimbiddi Country 1988 ($200,000-300,000), both of which were featured in the artist's first solo exhibition in Sydney. Western Desert paintings by artists represented by Papunya Tula are again a highlight, with a number of exceptional early Papunya boards by Uta Uta Tjangala, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Anatjari Tjakamarra, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Charlie Tarawa Tjungarrayi consigned. Dating from 1974 and amongst the earliest large scale Western Desert paintings, are two canvases by Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa. Warangkula's Spearing at Matingpalangu ($300,000/500,000) is the first known large canvas by the artist, and depicts the site of Tjikari where a series of epic ancestral events occurred. Of the same size Kaapa Tjampijinpa's, Warru (Wallaby) Ancestors ($100,000/150,000) depicts an extravagant ceremony, in a highly ordered composition reflecting the systematic process of ritual. Also of note, is the breadth and diversity of high quality artefacts including, Rainforest Shields and Bi-cornial baskets, an extremely rare Port Essington Spearthrower, a unique Tiwi Ceremonial Dance Wand, and numerous other exceptional shields, boomerangs, pearl shells and items of material culture.
Source: Sotherby's
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