THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

Page 1

COOE E ART auctions consultancy gallery

THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE | INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION | PART II

SYDNEY | 5 March 2024


Front and back cover image: Lot 34 © Maggie Watson Napangardi /Copyright Agency, 2024 2

|

COOEE ART


COOE E ART auctions consultancy gallery Indigenous Fine Art Auction

The Rod Menzies Estate | Indigenous Art Collection PART II LOTS 1 - 14 Indigenous Fine Art Property of Mixed Vendors LOTS 15 - 101 The Rod Menzies Estate Indigenous Art Collection Part II

Tuesday 5 March 2024 7 PM AEST start 17 Thurlow Street Redfern NSW 2016 - PREVIEW OPENING Thursday 29th February 2024 | 5 - 8 pm - AUCTION VIEWING 1st to 5th March 2024 | 10am - 6pm - TELEPHONE / ABSENTEE BIDS email bids to auction@cooeear t.com.au +61 (0)2 9300 9533 bidding forms pages 102-104 - LIVE ONLINE BIDDING auction.cooeear t.com.au - ENQUIRIES auction@cooeear t.com.au +61 (0)2 9300 9533 INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

3


COOEE ART TEAM

4

DR ANITA ARCHER Auctioneer

MIRRI LEVEN Owner & Director mirri@cooeeart.com.au | +61 416 379 691

Dr Anita Archer is an international art auctioneer and independent art consultant who has over two decades of experience working with collectors and artists in Australia and across Asia. Anita is also Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Contemporary Culture (ERCC) Research Unit at the University of Melbourne. An art historian, Anita’s research focus is global art markets and the digital art economy; her most recent publication is the monograph Chinese Contemporary Art

Mirri joined Cooee Art in 2007 and, in 2017 became part owner when she spearheaded the opening of Cooee Art’s Paddington gallery and the opening of the auction department and later, in 2021, created our vast galleries in Redfern. Under Leven’s guidance, Cooee has undergone a continuous evolution in each facet of the business. Now, with Mirri Leven as sole owner, the gallery is entering a new phase with many incredibly exciting projects on the horizon. Mirri holds a double degree in International Development and Fine Arts, as well as a Masters degree in Art Administration from the UNSW College of Fine Art. Leven is an executive board member of the Aboriginal Art Association of Australia.

DR KSENIA RADCHENKO Auction Administrator

HAYLEY COTTON Gallery and Operations Manager

Dr Ksenia Radchenko completed a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Ar t Curating from the University of Sydney. With experiences working at the University of Sydney, Chau Chak Wing Museum, and Sydney Living Museums, Ksenia has also lived in Moscow and Los Angeles, deepening her understanding of the global ar t world. Ksenia brings a unique perspective to her work. As an Auction Administrator, she combines her creative and practical skills to excel in her role at Cooee Ar t.

Hayley completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Sydney’s National Ar t School. Since then, she has traveled and worked at NG Ar t Gallery, Sculpture by the Sea, and Liverpool Street Gallery. In September 2019 Hayley joined Cooee Ar t as the Paddington Gallery Assistant and is now the Gallery Manager in Redfern.

|

COOEE ART


COOEE ART TEAM

EMMA LENYSZYN Indigenous Art Specialist emma@cooeeart.com.au | +61 400 822 546

ADRIAN NEWSTEAD OAM Senior Specialist adrian@cooeeart.com.au | +61 412 126 645

Educated in Fine Ar t at RMIT, Emma joined Cooee Ar t in 2016 as the Paddington Gallery Manager. In 2019, she became the Auction Specialist for Cooee Ar t Auctions. With a long history of employment in the arts, including positions at international institutions, commercial galleries, and private collections. Emma has an uncanny ability to match keen collectors with their ideal ar tworks. Her extensive knowledge of Australian Indigenous art positions her as ideal bridge between sellers and buyers.

Adrian is the President of the Aboriginal Art Association of Australian and a former board member of Aboriginal Tourism Australia. He established the Aboriginal art department for Lawson-Menzies in 2003, later acting as Managing Director of Menzies Art Brands, which under his stewardship, became the market leader. The former President of the Art Consulting Association of Australia, Adrian curated Cooee Art Auctions’ first specialised sale in 2017. For more than 40 years Adrian has been a passionate advocate for Australian Indigenous and contemporary art and has written widely for books, art publications and newspapers.

FIONA SMYTH Accounts

SAM STERNEBORG Back of House Manager

Fiona merges her education in Ar t and Finance to manage Cooee’s accounting depar tment. She has a double Degree in Fine Ar ts and Education from UNSW and is an accomplished contemporary painter in her own right. Outside of Cooee she is a celebrated children’s book author and mother of twin girls. Fiona has a passion for Indigenous education and ar t and its place in remote First Nation’s communities.

The son of an ar tist and ar t critic, Sam has worked in galleries across Berlin and Sydney, including his first job at the legendary Galerie Eigen + Ar t in Berlin from the age of 13. Prior to joining Cooee Ar t, he worked at the legendary Ray Hughes Gallery in Sydney, which he managed in its final years before opening his own, The New Standard Gallery, which ran from 2016 to 2018. Sam now acts as Cooee Ar t’s Ar t Handler.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

5


INTRODUCTION | AUCTION 5 MARCH 2024

THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II I am pleased to introduce the March 5th auction, headlining Part II of the Indigenous art collection of the late Rod Menzies. Part 1 of the special deaccession offering was held in November 2023 and saw all 103 artworks on offer sold, achieving 130% of the sale’s total pre-sale value. Rod Menzies took an assertive financial interest in the stock that he consigned. He amassed and cared for an impressive collection of Australian Indigenous artworks which were on permanent display at Noorilum, his estate located between Seymour and Shepparton in Central Victoria. Menzies was continually growing audiences for Indigenous and Australian art. He toured his finest Indigenous artworks in the exhibition, ‘Masterworks from the Menzies Collection’ to regional galleries throughout Australia between 2006 and 2008. It included several of the large-scale paintings that were included in our November sale along with others that are on offer in this Part II catalogue. Artworks that toured in this sale are: Maggie Napangardi Watson’s Mina Mina Dreaming, 1995 (Lot 34); Judy Watson’s, Women’s Dreaming, 1995 (Lot 35), and two works by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa - Water Story (Lot 33) and Tingari Dreaming, 1997 (Lot 66). Several of the artworks included in this offering currently hold, or have previously held, the artist’s market records, meaning when purchased they sold for the highest amount 6

|

COOEE ART

any artwork by the artist has sold for. Our cover lot is one such work. Purchased by Rod Menzies in 2008, this largescale piece depicting aspects of the Mina Mina Dreaming by Maggie Watson (Lot 34) holds the artist’s sold record when last sold for $348,000. The on-going rationalisation of the considerable Rod Menzies estate holdings includes hundreds of important Australian and International paintings, real estate, and a large range of additional assets. For this reason, Mina Mina Dreaming carries a pre-sale estimate of just $90,000 to $150,000 in this deceased estate sale. Preceding the 87 works in this final tranche of the Menzies Indigenous art collection are a small number of selected pieces being offered from mixed private vendors. These include a lovely watercolour depicting Glen Helen Gorge by Albert Namatjira, carrying an estimate of $30,000-40,000, (Lot 9); and paintings by John Mawurndjul, Kitty Kantilla alongside several pieces by Emily Kam(e) Kngwarray(e) whose solo exhibition is currently on view at the National Gallery of Australia and will be shown in 2025 at the Tate Modern in London. Emily Kngwarreye’s artworks are becoming more and more scarce in the market. We look forward to welcoming you during the viewing at Cooee Art Leven’s Redfern galleries for this one-of-a-kind deaccession sale of the Menzies collection. Adrian Newstead


INDEX OF ARTISTS

LOT NO.

ARTIST

9 69 72, 73, 74, 78, 79, 80 71, 75, 76, 77 27 39 21 38 8 54, 67 70 5 15 32 84 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 30, 31 101 43, 55 51 7 93, 94 42 2 6 88 37, 46 29 28 17 1 49 35, 61, 62, 63, 64, 81, 91, 98 Kitty Kantilla (Kutuwulumi Purawarrumpatu) 3, 4 Kudditji Kngwarreye 40, 60 Linda Syddick Napaltjarri 87 Lindsay Bird Mpetyane 65 Lloyd Kwilla 82 Lorna Brown Napanangka 83, 86 Lorna Fencer Naparrula 90, 97, 99 Maggie Watson Napangardi 34 Albert Namatjira Arone Meeks Artist Once Known Artists Once Known Banapana Maymuru Beerbee Joongoorra Mungnari Buranday Waynbarrnga Churchill Yoonany Cann Clara Ngala Inkamala Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Danie Mellor Declan Apuatimi Dick Nguleingulei Dorothy Robinson Napangardi Elizabeth Marks Nakamarra Emily Kame Kngwarreye Freddie Timms George (Hairbrush) Tjungurrayi George Ward Tjungurrayi Gloria Fletcher Thancoupie Gloria Petyarre Greeny Purvis Petyarre Ignatia Djanghara Ivan Namirrikki Jack Cook Jangala Jack Dale Jack Maranbarra Jimmy Galereya John Bunuwuy John Mawurndjul Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula Judy Watson Napangardi

ARTIST

LOT NO.

Marajui Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri Minnie Pwerle Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri Molly Pwerle Mungurrawuy Yunupingu Naata Nungurrayi Neikungapa Maminyamanja Ningura Gibson Napurrula Old Mick Walankari Tjakamarra Paddy Fordham Wainburranga Peter Datjin Burarrwanga Ray James Tjangala Ray Inkamala Tjampitjinpa Robyn Nganjmira Ronnie Tjampitjinpa Rosella Namok Rover Thomas Joolama Terry Dhurritjini Yumbulul Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula Walala Tjapaltjarri

22 50, 57 59 96 92 19 58 16 44, 56 23 26 20 85 24 18 33, 52, 66 89, 95 36, 47, 48, 53, 68 25 41, 45 100

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

7


PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS (LOTS 1 - 14)

1 JOHN MAWURNDJUL (1951 - ) Bilmu-Barramundi, 1987

130 x 55 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $6,000 - 9,000

PROVENANCE Maningrida Arts and Crafts, NT Cat No. MAW80 Private Collection, NSW Throughout the early to mid 1980s, the primary subject matter for Mawurndjul’s work was the mythology of the surrounding environment at Milmilngkan. He painted small barks of Ngalyod (the Rainbow Serpent), Namarrkon (the Lightning Spirit), and various local natural species, such as fish, bandicoots, and possum. In all these subjects he paid precise attention to anatomical detail. His work at this time, reflected his place as an heir to the long painting tradition of Kuninjku artists, who had created magnificent bark paintings over the previous decade. Though artists such as Yirawala, Peter Marralwanga, and Mick Kubarkku incorporated cross-hatched (Rarrk) designs into their art, this remained secondary to the figurative elements. In time, this came to be thought of as the quintessential Central and Western Arnhem Land painting style. As time progressed, however, Mawurndjul increasingly allowed the Rarrk designs to dominate, filling both the interior and surrounding space of his figures. By the mid 1990s, he had abandoned figurative iconography all but completely.

8

|

COOEE ART


2 IGNATIA DJANGHARA (1930 - c.2000) WANDJINA, c.1985

135 x 55 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $8,000 - 12,000 PROVENANCE Goollarabooloo Arts and Crafts, WA Cooee Art, NSW Cat No. #1163 Lawson-Menzies, November 2006, Lot No. 35 Private Collection, NSW EXHIBITED Trade Routes Crafts Council, ACT,1986 Little if anything is known about Ignatia’s childhood and youth. She was born around 1930 and was already in her mid 50s when she first became prominent at Kalumburu in the mid 1980s where she lived adjacent to the Benedictine mission (Est.1907). Both here and at Mowanjum (the site of a former Presbyterian mission), local authorities had exercised strong control over the Woonambal landowners who were taught that their tribal customs and beliefs were at odds with Christianity. Ignatia and her husband were responsible for maintaining the remnants of these spirit ancestors which are said to have lain down in caves and turned into paintings on the cave walls after their time on the earth. Images of the Wandjina were viewed by artists such as Ignatia as purely reproductions of the ‘real’ Wandjina’s adorning the cave walls at their most important Dreaming sites. INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS

9


3 KITTY KANTILLA (KUTUWULUMI PURAWARRUMPATU) (1924 - 2003)

JILLAMARA, 2001

77 x 57 cm natural earth pigments on Arches cotton rag paper

EST $8,000 - 12,000

PROVENANCE Jilamara Arts and Crafts, NT Cat No. 97-01 Aboriginal and Pacific Art, NSW Private Collection, NSW EXHIBITED Ngaruwanajirri Yirrara Paintings by Tiwi Artists from Nguiu”, Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, NSW, 2001 Kitty Kantilla’s art is informed by the ornate body painting of the Pukumani ceremony. What makes her art so inherently important is that the meaning of these designs characterised by abstract patterns made up of dots and lines has been largely lost since the missionary era. In her final years, though frail, she could imbue her works, despite their lack of figuration, with her mixed feelings about the passing of the old ways and the uncertainty about the new. Her subtle mastery over abstraction, anchored to the very essence of her culture, and the trembling impression of her marks at this late stage of her life, evoked the kinetic movement of participants as they sang and danced during ceremony. This was only heightened by her exquisite attention to detail.

10

|

COOEE ART


4

5

KITTY KANTILLA (KUTUWULUMI PURAWARRUMPATU)

DECLAN APUATIMI (1930 - 1985) TIWI SPIRIT CARVING, c.1987

(1924 - 2003)

45h x 13w cm natural earth pigments on carved ironwood

BIMA (FEMALE CREATION FIGURE), 1989 53h x 16w cm natural earth pigments on carved ironwood

EST $3,000 - 4,000

EST $7,000 - 9,000

PROVENANCE Tiwi Pima Art, Bathurst Island, NT Gabrielle Roy - Aboriginal and Pacific Gallery, NSW Private Collection, NSW

PROVENANCE Collected directly from the artist by Jennifer Hunter D’Lan Contemporary, Vic Private Collection, NSW Accompanied by a letter of authenticity by D’lan Davidson In the Tiwi foundation creation story Purukapali and Tarpara were brothers. Tapara made love to Purukapali’s wife, Bima, who left her son Jinani out under the hot sun. When Jinani passed away, death came to the Tiwi Islands for the first time. The two brothers fought and Tapara fled into the sky, where he became the moon. Kitty Kantilla was the leader of a group of

At the time of his death, Declan Apuatimi, had been the most important artist from Bathurst Island for more than a decade. He achieved the distinction of being the first Tiwi artist to have a solo exhibition named “Declan,” which toured across Australia after his passing in the late 1980s. Apuatimi showcased his artistic prowess through various mediums, including bark painting, canvas painting, spear-making, and sculpting, with the latter earning him considerable acclaim. In sculptures such as this, Apuatimi skillfully combined the abstracted forms characteristic of traditional Tiwi figure carving with a touch of naturalistic representation, showcasing his artistic versatility.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS

11


6 IVAN NAMIRRIKKI (1961 - ) A COLLECTION OF THREE MIMIH SPRITS, 2001 165h cm; 177h cm; 168.5h cm natural earth pigments on carved wood

EST $8,000 - 10,000

PROVENANCE Maningrida Arts & Crafts, NT Palya Art, NT Cat No. PALYA-0778, 0772 & 0769 Private Collection, NSW Accompanied by the certificates of authenticity from Palya Art Kuninjku artist Ivan Namirrkki was taught to paint in a figurative manner by his father Peter Marralwanga, a renowned bark painter and contemporary of David Yirawala. To distinguish his own figurative works from those of his father Namirrkki often used black paint as the background to the figures although, like his father, he also became adept at varying the pattern of infill from rarrk, to dotting, to sections of full colour, to create dynamic visual effects. In the late 1990s, Namirrkki moved to paint geometric work in the Mardayin style. His style is very strongly symmetrical with evenly spaced bands of rarrk arrayed in concentric diamond forms. This diamond arrangement has become his signature and it features as the background of works that show the complex interconnections between waterholes in his country. He also contrasts this patterning with dotting

12

|

COOEE ART


7 GLORIA FLETCHER THANCOUPIE (1937 - 2011)

STORY POTS, c.1989

18h x 13w cm; 20h x 18w cm hand built stoneware, slip and oxide decoration on incised designs

EST $4,500 - 8,500

PROVENANCE Hogarth Gallery, NSW Private Collection, Qld Private Collection, NSW The primary focus throughout Thancoupie’s distinguished career was on the ‘object as art’. Her naturalistic forms, the methods of making them, and the incised decoration that adorns the surface, relate these objects directly to traditional ways of story telling. Her forms were created by building with slabs and using the concave surfaces of her own body, her knees and elbows to push the walls of clay in to free-form shapes. Large spheres and ‘eggs’ were created using semi-circular moulds as a template and then building upon the shapes created with small pieces of clay from the inside out as the walls rear up from the mould. Her surface decoration, in which Thainkuith legends and totemic creatures are illustrated by grooving the surface, demonstrates the connection between her work and traditional sand drawing.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS

13


8

CLARA NGALA INKAMALA (1954 - ) OWLS AND EAGLE, c.1997

28h x 34w cm (pot); 11h x 30w (lid) earthenware, hand-built terracotta clay with underglaze colours and synthetic polymer paint

EST $2,800 - 3,200

14

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Hermannsburg Potters, NT Cat No. CI 859 Private Collection, NSW Clara Inkamala grew up at Ntaria, the Hermannsburg community amongst her Western Aranda clanswomen. An acclaimed potter at the Hermannsburg Potters for many years, she now lives in Alice Springs and currently paints at the Many Hands art centre where she creates watercolour landscapes, inspired by Albert Namatjira. Her grandmother was Albert’s sister. All of Clara’s family members have been watercolour artists. Being part of the family dynasty, they all learnt how to paint from their uncle Albert Namatjira.


9 GLEN HELEN GORGE, 1942

PROVENANCE Alice Springs, NT Rudolph Herman von der Borch, SA Borch collected these paintings in Alice Springs in 1942 while serving as an army physician during WWII Thence by descent, MA, USA

EST $30,000 - 40,000

Albert Namatjira began painting in the early 1930s and his aptitude in capturing the high colouring of the desert landscape, the gorges and valleys of the country of his birth and his Dreaming, brought him instant success.

ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) 39 x 28 cm; 55 x 45 cm (framed) watercolour on paper

He typically painted his desert country from a slightly elevated point of view, as if looking down, ever so slightly on the landscape. He was able to capture the subtleties of colour as the desert changes from the soft tones of summer heat, to the rich colours of the early morning and late evening light. The majority of his paintings lack a central focal point yet a visual emphasis on the edges holds the composition in balance without either a dominance of forms near the centre or a hierarchy of forms. While he is often characterised as a tragic figure trapped between two worlds and two art traditions, Albert Namatjira’s paintings of the Western MacDonnell Ranges, Mount Sonder and the surrounding desert have endured to become synonymous with a romantic vision of the Australian outback.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS

15


16

|

COOEE ART

Image Copyright Tara Ebes


EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE EMILY KAM KNGWARRAY In recent years, Emily Kame Kngwarreye has solidified her place as an international art world titan along the lines of Rothko, Warhol and De Kooning. Those fortunate enough to see her rise to fame in the early 90s, have never wavered in their belief of her talent. Despite her national acclaim, the international art market has seemed to lack conviction or insight into her greatness, until now. In the past few years her career has reached heights unlike any other Australian artist. She regularly shows with Gagosian Galleries in New York and Paris. Her representation at Frieze Masters in London and the announcement of her solo exhibition at The TATE Modern in London in 2025 is more proof of the world’s major institution’s eagerness to display Emily Kngwarreye’s work. Emily painted her first canvas for Rodney Gooch of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in the late 1980s and Christopher Hodges began working with Gooch after a chance encounter the following year. Around that time at Delmore Downs, next door to the Utopia pastoral lease, Janet Holt, (wife of owner Don Holt), who had been art coordinator and manager for Papunya Tula Artists between 1975 and 1997, responded to the request for art materials from some of the Utopia women. In 1990, with encouragement and advice from Bob Edwards, Hank Ebes opened his Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings in Melbourne. Edwards’ crucial advocacy role in Indigenous art and culture, and the visual arts is legendary, and his friendship and council to Ebes continued during the next four decades of his highly distinguished public life. Ebes employed Paul Walsh, the former field officer for Papunya Tula, to source paintings, while in Alice Springs and Tim Jennings (the lead detective in the Azaria Chamberlain case) built his Mbantua Gallery around works by Emily and other emerging Utopia artists. That same year, Fred Torres, the son of Emily’s niece Barbara Weir, took his auntie Emily, Gloria Petyarre, and other family members to Adelaide before selling their work to galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. Shortly thereafter, Emily painted for Alan Glaetser, who later became a field officer for the Central Land Council. At the time, Glaetser ran the store at Arlparra, where Emily lived and painted when out bush.

While these were the main players, they were by no means all. Emily was happy to work for all of them and others. She could paint several paintings in a single day if everything was laid out, ready and waiting for her arrival. Rodney Gooch was not the first to comment that ‘to be a great artist in Aboriginal society is to be a great provider’ and noted that about twenty members of Emily’s immediate ‘family’ were benefiting directly from her exponential success. By the early 1990s, Emily’s paintings were shown in Russia (1991), Japan (1992), Germany, the United Kingdom and Denmark (1993). In Australia, she, almost single- handedly, enabled many of Aboriginal art galleries to weather the high interest rate driven recession and ride it out in far better condition than their contemporary gallery counterparts. Her paintings, commanded prices unmatched by any other Indigenous artists. Her success emboldened contemporary galleries, which had previously eschewed Aboriginal art, to compete for her works against the specialist Aboriginal galleries. While her works where on display in galleries all over Australia, Emily lived in a different world altogether. She’d spent her younger days as a camel driver and stock hand on pastoral properties at a time when most young women worked as domestics. She slept under the stars and lived in a most frugal manner. She spent her time camping on red sandy earth in a bough shelter under the large bloodwood Eucalypts beside the Arlparra Store, accompanied by a close group of relatives. When money came in, it was quickly spent or given away. Completely indifferent to the trappings of wealth and fame, she was happy to paint and those who knew her well, described her strong and determined personality. Emily Kngwarreye produced a staggering 4,000-5,000 paintings between the agers of 79 to 86 and each month her paintings evolved in style and, The works offered in this sale explore the diversity in visual interpretation that Emily was capable of when representing the Yam in bloom. These rare examples of her highly desirable works represent some of the many facets of Australia’s most important artist. Adrian Newstead

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

17


10 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

UNTITLED,1994 140 x 97 cm; 147 x 104 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $70,000 - 90,000

18

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat No. AGOD 3862 Private Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings Beginning late in 1991 and throughout the following years, Emily Kame Kngwarreye explored a range of techniques after largely abandoning the fine dotting and submerged linear tracking which had characterised her earlier works. She used larger brushes to create broader circular dabs of paint, which often involved ‘double dipping’ the brush in various colours, before attacking the canvas. In this work, she shows tremendous confidence and great subtlety of colour in rendering the floral profusion throughout her desert homeland after summer rains. The linear application of broad dotting creates swathing rhythm across the canvas. Despite the sweeping gestural flourishes, the resultant image contains considerable nuances, which evoke the physical and spiritual fertility of the land, and radiance of being, that is sought during ceremony.


11 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

ALALGURA COUNTRY, 1993

152 x 122 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $70,000 - 90,000

PROVENANCE Delmore Gallery, NT Cat No. 93A088 The Thomas Vroom Collection, The Netherlands Private Collection, Vic EXHIBITED Olsen Irwin Gallery, Emily Kngwarreye, Paintings and Prints from the Thomas Vroom Collection, 2016, Sydney, NSW In this highly dramatic work, the application of pink, yellow, and grey colours highlight the varied and changing hues in the lifecycle of the Anooralya Yam and the seasonal change that comes when storms build and bring rain to the the dry desert landscape near Alalgura on Utopia Station, west of Delmore Downs. The thick textured fusion of deep yellow and pink hues gives a concentrated view of the desert’s food sources after rain. Often hidden from view, these seed, fruit, and root vegetables are enormously bountiful. The requirement to understand the life cycles of all bush foods is necessary to the survival of Alyawerre and Anmatjerre people. This work evokes the build up of an approaching storm. The rain falls and water slowly flows along the broad shallow watercourse and replenishes the soakage at Alalgura. The flourish of growth that follows is exceptional and rapid. The dramatic transformation of the desert from bare to abundant is a display of the desert’s power. Linked into this is women’s ceremonial life called ‘awelye’ that is based on the belief that they help nurture the desert food sources by ensuring future fertile generations. INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS

19


12 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

BUSH YAM AWELYE, 1994

123 x 125 cm; 131 x 132 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $90,000 - 110,000

20

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat No. AGOD 3608 Private Collection, Vic EXHIBITED Nangara: The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Stichting Sint-jan, Brugge, Belgium, 1996 ILLUSTRATED Hank Ebes (ed.), Nangara: The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Melbourne: The Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, 1996, Cat No. 305


13 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

ALALGURRA SOAK - MY COUNTRY, 1994

PROVENANCE Delmore Gallery, NT Cat No. 94L10 Private Collection, USA ILLUSTRATED Cf. For stylistically similar works see: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, ‘My Country’, 1994, University of Virginia Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection

90 x 151 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $35,000 - 45,000

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | PROPERTY OF MIXED VENDORS

21


14 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

YAM DREAMING, ED 3/50, 1995

176 x 57 cm (paper) limited edition linocut

EST $3,000 - 5,000 PROVENANCE Workshop conducted at Delmore Downs, NT Print Maker, Theo Tremblay Editioned Studio One, ACT Private Collection, NSW

22

|

COOEE ART

This linocut marked an important turning point in the artist’s imagery. Almost immediately after creating it she began large-scale line paintings eschewing the dotted landscapes that she had created up to that moment in time. These paintings culminated in her masterpiece, Big Yam Dreaming in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. Emily’s earliest ‘straight line paintings’ stemmed from a workshop in January 1994, during which she worked with master printmaker Theo Tremblay at Studio One in Canberra.The image was painted onto the linolium. Later the printmakers faithfully cut around the lines and published the print.


INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

23


THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II - LOTS 15-101

15

16

DICK NGULEINGULEI (1920 - 1988) MIMI HUNTING KANGAROO, c.1977 49 x 37 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $2,500 - 3,500 PROVENANCE Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 49 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic EXHIBITED Myer’s Aboriginal Art exhibition, 1987 Cf. Similar paintings by Nguleingulei with the title Killing the Rock Kangaroo (ca. 1970) and Mimi Hunter and Kangaroo are in the Arnott’s Collection in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney Born on the Liverpool River plateau between Gunbalarya (Oenpelli) and Maningrida, Dick Nguleingulei Murrumurra’s life spanned nearly a century. He emerged during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s as a pivotal figure in the bark painting movement. His depictions of stone country fauna, such as the freshwater crocodile, echidna, and kangaroo, reflect a hunter’s acute sense of proportion, anatomy, and an innate connection to these creatures. Additionally, he translated stories of the spirits inhabiting the escarpment into vivid artworks. This bark depicts the kangaroo clearly showing the internal organs of the animal. The kangaroo is being speared by a Nalidgidgi Mimi spirit who has a spear and woomera. His body is painted with ceremonial markings. 24

|

COOEE ART

NEIKUNGAPA MAMINYAMANJA (c.1930 - c.1990) HUNTER, GROOTE EYLANDT, 1968 30 x 18 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $2,000 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 81 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Groote Eylandt lies in the Gulf of Carpentaria off the eastern coast of Arnhem Land., of which it forms a part.The most distinctive characteristic of Groote Eylandt paintings is its graphic boldness and the predominance of the use of black as a ground colour. The pigment is obtained from manganese, as Groote island has some of the world’s largest deposits of the mineral. The artwork portrays the act of hunting a mythical bird, likely Ji-Inwa, a representation of the crow. With roots in the story of celestial genesis, this painting manifests two luminous stars that emerged from the creatures impaled by spears, as recounted in the Dreaming narrative. Apuatimi showcased his artistic prowess through various mediums, including bark painting, canvas painting, spear-making, and sculpting, with the latter earning him considerable acclaim. In sculptures such as this, Apuatimi skillfully combined the abstracted forms characteristic of traditional Tiwi figure carving with a touch of naturalistic representation, showcasing his artistic versatility.


17

18

JOHN BUNUWUY (1922 - 1982) SACRED SNAKES, 1969

ROBYN NGANJMIRA (1951 - 1991) BROGLA AND ECHIDNA, 1983

72 x 57 cm natural earth pigments on bark

128 x 80 cm; 132 x 86 cm (framed) natural earth pigments on bark

EST $800 - 1,200

EST $2,000 - 4,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW November 2007, Lot No. 308 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic This artwork by John Bunuwuy depicts mythological times when two sisters camped beside a sacred well. One of the sisters accidentally polluted the well and in anger the giant python, or Rainbow Serpent, who lived in the depths of the well, rose up high into the sky, calling on all other snakes both in the well and on the land to join with him in causing great floods which covered the earth. At the height of the floods, the python swallowed the sisters and swam with them back to their own country, where he regurgitated them on to dry land.

PROVENANCE Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 82 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Robyn Nganjmirra lived between the Gumaderr and Liverpool rivers in Western Arnhem Land, and belonged to a prolific artistic family. He was a nephew of Bobby Barrdjaray Nganjmirra, one of the best known of the older generation of Kunwiniku artists. The Nganjmirra family has preserved a strong and recognisable figurative style throughout successive generations.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

25


19

20

MUNGURRAWUY YUNUPINGU (c.1907 - 1979)

PETER DATJIN BURARRWANGA (1953 -)

THE MACASSANS, FIREWARRIORS, COMING TO SHORE, c.1972

GANINY, 1999

56 x 25 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Yirrkala, NT Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 242 Private Collection, Vic Menzies Estate Collection, Vic This painting portrays a Macassan prau and Malay fishermen. Mungurrawuy Yunupingu was born during the era of the final visits by Macassan praus to the shores of North East Arnhem Land. He became a senior Gumatj cultural leader, and was one of the Yirritja painters of the Yirrkala Church Panels (1963) and a signatory to the Aboriginal Bark Petition presented to the Australian Government in 1963. His work featured in several landmark international exhibitions during his lifetime. 26

|

COOEE ART

193 x 52 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $2,500 - 3,500 PROVENANCE Elcho Island Art and Craft, NT Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No.124 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Gumatj Elder, Peter Datjin, was born on Elcho island and now lives and works in Birany Birany, a beach 600 Kms east of Darwin in Arnhem Land, . His paintings generally centre on his favorite motif, the ganiny, an instrument used to remove the bark from the Eucalyptus trees that grow throughout his country. The ganiny also has religious importance, being used in funeral ceremonies and representing the ancient fire myth cherished by the men of the Yirritja moiety. The diagonal lines of traditional crosshatch (rarrk) in his paintings symbolise the movement of tides along Elcho Island’s shores.


21

22

BURANDAY WAYNBARRNGA (c.1914 - 1980) MALINDJI MALINDJI BURRUNDI, c.1964 52 x 27 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $300 - 500

MARAJUI (c.1930 - c.1980) SEA LIFE, c.1969

40 x 30 cm natural earth pigments on bark

EST $800 - 1,400

PROVENANCE Milingimbi Mission, NT Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, November 2007, Lot No. 300 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic George Waynbarrnga Buranday was among the group of Djambarrpuyngu clansmen who moved to the small island community of Milingimbi in Arnhem Land following the establishment of the mission by the Methodist Church in 1923. In the 1950s, the Reverend Edgar Wells, formalised the sale of artworks through the mission and Buranday created bark paintings, paperbark objects, and carved wooden sculptures. A major focus of his work was the mortuary rites of the Dhuwa moiety, particularly Banumbirr, the Morning Star.

PROVENANCE Milingimbi Mission, NT Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 262 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic This rare work by Marajuli, who lived in Central Arnhem Land, depicts sand goanas and a snake at the sacred waterhole on his clan lands, surrounded by trees.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

27


23 OLD MICK WALANKARI TJAKAMARRA (c.1910 - 1996)

BUSH TUCKER, 1976

40 x 18 cm; 41.8 x 20.5 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on composition board

EST $3,000 - 4,000 PROVENANCE Kevin McAuley Collection, Vic Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 179 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Born at Watikipinrri, west of central Mount Wedge, Mick Walankari is thought to have been one of the last surviving Kukatja of the Central Desert region. Having worked on cattle stations at Glen Helen and Narwietooma stations before being re-settled at Papunya and gaining proffeciency in English, he often acted as a negotiator in the community and became an important figure in the genesis of the Papunya Tula art movement because of his seniority and great knowledge of traditional designs and stories. 28

|

COOEE ART

When the idea for the school murals were first conceived by Geoff Bardon, it was Old Mick, already a pensioner, and Kaapa who, followed by a small group of whispering men, handed Bardon the scrap of paper, ‘[…]smaller and narrower than a matchbox, almost unreadable in its smallness,’ that showed the Honey Ant design. It was from this humble beginning that the Western Desert art movement began. Old Mick’s early paintings are compelling in their palpable sense of élan and played a vital role in inspiring other painters. His works elicit the passing between the earthly and spirit world in a solemn but warm and beautifully balanced symbolic rendition. His works at Papunya were the first to be collected by the National Gallery of Australia, and were featured in the ‘Asia Society’s Dreamings: Art of Aboriginal Australia’ exhibition which toured North America in 1988-1989. Although he was forced to give up painting by the early 1980s due to failing eyesight and bad health, he taught and strongly influenced a number of ‘second wave’ artists, most importantly Maxie Tjampitjinpa and Don Tjungurrayai. His art and influence continues to provide the wellspring of an ancient tradition that feeds the vision of contemporary Papunya artists to this day. In this work the artist has created a stylised map of his country during rain. The wavy lines interconnect waterholes and suggest landscape, terrain, and flowing water. These landmarks are surrounded by parallel curved lines representing rainbows while the delicate dotting delineates the topography.


24 RAY INKAMALA TJAMPITJINPA (c.1920 - 1989) ILPILI, c.1980

51 x 40 cm; 60 x 50 cm (framed) powder pigment on board

EST $600 - 800

PROVENANCE Frank Slip Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, February 2006, Lot No. 16 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Ray Inkamala spent his early years in a remote corner of the Western Desert. As a young boy, his initial glimpses of the outside world were the distant planes flying overhead.Tragically, Ray’s parents succumbed to hunger and thirst in the unforgiving desert, and he found himself adopted into an extended family. In the 1930s, they relocated to a Christian mission, marking his first significant contact with a different way of life. He worked as a stockman until early 1976 when he began painting. This work was collected by Frank Slip during his travels with his close friend and neighbour Geoffrey Bardon.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

29


25 TERRY DHURRITJINI YUMBULUL (1950 - ) NGARRI GAPALA - GOING CANOE, 2003

135h x 15w cm natural earth pigments and synthetic polymer paint on carved wood

EST $3,000 - 5,000 PROVENANCE Echo Island Arts & Crafts, NT Cat No. TY031215S Bandigan Art, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, November 2006, Lot No. 156 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate from Bandigan Art This sculpture represents the canoe that took spirit beings with their sacred objects away from the ancestral fire on Martjamba to Madpanami where one still lives as the guardian. The shape indicates that it is floating debris - parts of inland vegetation have tumbled down and been carried by the current from freshwater areas to saltwater. It became seized by an octopus (caught in coral) where it can be seen today. The legs of the sculpture simulate the leg formation of coral stems. The triangular pattern represents a sea serpent. At either end are two octopi (Gulurrk).

26 PADDY FORDHAM WAINBURRANGA (1932 - 2006) BALANGJALNGALAN (SPIRIT FIGURES), 1996

258h x 8w cm; 156h x 5w cm natural earth pigments and feathers on carved wood

EST $3,000 - 5,000 PROVENANCE Balang Art and Crafts, Katherine, NT Cooee Art, NSW Private Collection, NZ Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, Vic. June 2000, Lot No. 8, 9 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Paddy Fordham was an artist, sculptor, storyteller, and leader of the Rembarnga people of South East Arnhem Land. He was famous for depictions of the Balangjangalang Spirits that dwell in the rocky escarpments and trees around Barunga. These spirits are said to love children and are liable to lead them away from their camp while their parent’s attention is diverted. While they may impart great knowledge, power and wisdom to a child in their care, children are warned not to stray too far from camp, lest the Balangjangalang Spirit get them.

30

|

COOEE ART


27 BANAPANA MAYMURU (1944 - 1982) POSSUM IN THE TREE, c.1975

56.5h x 25.5w cm natural earth pigments on carved wood

EST $800 - 1,200 PROVENANCE Yirrkala, NT Private Collection, Vic Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, Vic. June 2000, Lot No. 71 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

28 JIMMY GALEREYA (c.1937 - ) LORRKON (HOLLOW LOG COFFIN WITH ARTISTS TOTEMIC ANCESTORS), c.1987

163h x 13.5d cm natural earth pigments on carved wood

EST $800 - 1,500 PROVENANCE Maningrida Art and Crafts, NT Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, Vic. June 2000, Lot No. 66 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2014, Lot No. 263 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

29 JACK MARANBARRA (1941 - ) LORRKON (HOLLOW LOG), c.1990

208h x 18.5d cm natural earth pigments on carved wood

EST $3,000 - 4,000 PROVENANCE Maningrida Art and Crafts, NT Cooee Art, NSW Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, Vic. June 2000, Lot No. 66 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2014, Lot No. 263 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

31


30 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

UNTITLED (AWELYE), 1995

75 x 49 cm; 88 x 63 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on paper

EST $7,000 - 9,000

PROVENANCE Utopia Art, NSW Cat No. 31-495 Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 224 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic EXHIBITED A New Expression, 1995, Utopia Art, Sydney, NSW In this work, commissioned by Rodney Gooch in Alice Springs during 1995, Emily depicted the root system of the complex mass of roots that stretch underground spreading up to 12 metres from the yam plant at its centre. At ground level, the yam exhibits bright green leaves with yellow flowers and its branches cover a great deal of surface area. It is found in woodlands, close to water sources. The yam is most abundant after rainfall, when the root system develops rapidly. Several months later, the plant dies off and Indigenous women look for cracks in the earth indicating where the roots and tubers are located. Often, large areas are excavated in their search to find the edible tubers of the plant. Once found, the yams are taken back to the community, where they are eaten raw or cooked. They have a rather bland taste but make a filling meal. In the Yam Dreaming, the Emily is paying homage to the spirit of the yam plant, so that it regenerates year after year to feed people.

32

|

COOEE ART


31 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE [ E m i l y K a m K n g w a r r a y ] (1910 - 1996)

WILDFLOWER DREAMING, 1994

120 x 80 cm; 124 x 84.5 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $30,000 - 50,000

PROVENANCE Flinders Lane Gallery, Vic Cat No. FLG13/ FG 010061EK Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2008, Lot No. 285 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s paintings of wildflowers reflect a stage in the growth cycle of the wild yam. Emily’s middle name, Kame, is taken from the yam Dreaming site at Alhalkere. The nutritional value of the yam is hidden underground, in the swollen roots and their pod-like attachments which are difficult to locate as the plant’s unpredictable growth patterns make harvest complicated and specialised. Traditionally, much effort is expended across large areas in the harvest of this valuable food.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

33


32 DOROTHY ROBINSON NAPANGARDI (c.1956 - 2013)

SANDHILLS OF MINA MINA, 2003

123 x 123 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $8,000 - 12,000

PROVENANCE Flinders Lane Gallery, Vic Cat No. FG03414.DN Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, December 2009, Lot No. 130 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Dorothy Robinson Napangardi began creating works tracing the grid-like patterns of the salt encrustations on the Mina Mina clay pans in 1997, marking a significant artistic shift in her work. Over the following three-year period, her paintings became less and less contrived and increasingly spare, all detail pared back to the barest essentials.These new works compelled the spectators eye to dance across the painted surface, just as the Karntakulangu ancestral women danced in their hundreds across the country during the region’s creation. As these works developed, Dorothy’s extraordinary spatial ability enabled her to create mimetic grids and lines of white dots (on a black ground) or black dots (on a white ground, such as in this lovely work), tracing the travels of her female ancestors as they danced their way, in joyous exultation, through the saltpans, Spinifex, and sand hills, clutching their digging sticks in outstretched hands. Kathleen Petyarre has been quoted as saying: ‘those Walpiri ladies, they’re mad about dancing, they go round and round and round dancing, they’re always dancing’. Little wonder that the surfaces of Dorothy’s canvases become dense rhythms of grids, as she mapped the paths of these dancing women.

34

|

COOEE ART


33 RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA (c. 1943 - 2023) WATER STORY, 2000

181 x 412.5 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $40,000 - 60,000

PROVENANCE Fireworks Gallery, Qld Cat No. FW 8502 Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA 00519 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2009, Lot No. 182 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Kimberly Art Although he began painting in the early 1970s, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa’s reductive, linear works first appeared in the mid - 1990s. While it may be challenging to reconcile these contemporary images with their traditional content, the overall shimmer he effects with seemingly minimal application radiates the artist’s authority and self-assuredness. His technique and the mood he created by manipulating space allowed him to command a greater scale of painting, a feature of commissioned woks since 1999. However as big pictures, they remain uncompromising. His mastery of design principles, often using just two or three colours with core iconic symbols, retains a purity that set him apart from his peers. This painting depicts the travels of the Tingari Men to the site of Ungama, south west of Kiwirrkura. A large group of wise men travelled across the country and gathered at this site performing ceremonies, then they travelled to Kiwirrkura. The formations in this painting represent rainwater filtering and washing its way to the soakage water site at Ungama.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

35


Maggie Watson was a leader amongst a group of Warlpiri women artists who began to challenge the dominance of men’s acrylic painting in the central desert region from the mid-1980s. The emergence of these women in Yuendumu and simultaneously in Utopia (amongst Anamtjerre and Alyawarre peoples) challenged the false anthropological assumption that men were the sole guardians of the visual life of these communities. The historical evolution of the movement of which Maggie was part, began with the encouragement of more permanent painting techniques in the 1970s in both Yuendumu and Papunya. With the introduction of acrylics in the 1980s, the women artists progressed from painting ritual objects for sale to painting on boards as a source of revenue. In rejecting desert ochres used for ceremony in favour of vibrant acrylics, during the mid-1980s, these women grasped the opportunity to express their feeling for country in an unforeseen and novel way. The use of flamboyant colour and richly textured surfaces became the hallmark of Maggie Watson’s paintings. Her willingness to adopt vibrant acrylic colours was founded upon the Warlpiri women’s response to shiny shimmering surfaces. During ceremony women apply red ochre mixed with animal fat to their skin. It is associated with the health, vitality, beauty, and allure of their female ancestors. Maggie Watson’s works are characterised by striated bands of alternating colour, shimmering across the surface of her canvases. They mimic the movement of the ancestral women as they danced across the landscape, the claypans, soakages, and sandhill country through which they passed. This Digging Stick Dreaming, created over several months in 1995, is believed to be the magnum opus of Maggie Watson’s career, which ended just 3 years later. Here we see a spectacular representation of the artist’s country through a story that she shares with other well-known artists, including her sister Judy Watson (who she taught to paint) and Dorothy Napangardi.

34 MAGGIE WATSON NAPANGARDI (1921 - 2004) MINA MINA DREAMING, 1995

148.5 x 201.5 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $90,000 - 150,000 PROVENANCE Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KAMW004/95 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2008, Lot No. 248 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic ILLUSTRATED Ref: Bois de Chesne, C., “Melbourne Top Art and Food”, Bois de Chesne Design, Melbourne, 2005 (illus. p.29, image in reverse)|

36

|

COOEE ART

The grandeur of the country is mapped out with an impressive geometry of clearly delineated roundels joined by ribbons of finely dotted colour. Rendered in an inventive palette, it flows like rivers from one junction to another in an intriguing patchwork. Soft browns, tans, oranges, vermilions, and yellows are offset quite brilliantly with white, imparting a magical shimmer and depth to the surface. During the Dreaming, digging sticks (Kana) magically emerged from the land at Mina Mina, equipping a large number of ancestral women for their travels over a vast stretch of country. The tall Desert Oaks (Kurrkapi), which grow near Mina Mina, symbolise their appearance as they rose up from beneath the ground itself in the Dreamtime. To this day they are thought of as both the living embodiments of those digging sticks as well as the lithe, upright young women who were amongst their bearers. As the women danced their way across the desert in joyous exultation they clutched the digging sticks in their outstretched hands. Dancing in a long line they created important sites and encountered other Dreamings. Hundreds of these women travelled on the long journey first toward the east, then to the north, then to the south collecting plants and foods with both medicinal and ceremonial uses. They visited many sites, resting at some, going underground at others and later re-emerging or morphing into different, sometimes malevolent, beings. These powerful ancestral women were involved in initiation ceremonies and used human hair-string spun and rubbed with special red ochre and fat as part of their magic. In 1985, Maggie Watson had her first exhibition at Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs. It was the beginning of a career of some 13 years, which would see her work exhibited in major state galleries all around Australia. These include the major exhibitions: ‘Yuendumu: Paintings out of the Desert’, South Australian Museum exhibition in 1988 and ‘Power of the Land’ – Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1994. During her lifetime her works were exhibited internationally in Tucson, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Diego, and Miami in the USA, as well as in Paris, Dusseldorf, London, and Auckland.


INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

37


35 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016) WOMEN’S DREAMING, 1995

193 x 367 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $80,000 - 100,000 PROVENANCE Kimberley Australian Aboriginal Art, Vic Cat No. KA 883/97 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2006, Lot No. 155 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

38

|

COOEE ART

In this, the most ambitious painting of her career, Judy Watson Napangardi depicts the Snake Vine, Ngalyipi, sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. Born at Mt Doreen Station, Judy Watson has made many trips back to Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts, with her family. She was taught to paint by her elder sister Maggie Napangardi Watson and painted alongside her at Warlurkurlangu artists for a number of years, developing her own unique style. Judy birthed ten children and is a woman of a prodigious energy that is transmitted in her vibrant paintings through a dynamic use of colour and her energetic dragged dotting style. The style has been said to mimic the movement of women as they dance, and in particular, the movement of the Kantakulangu ancestors who danced through Mina Mina on their epic journey in the Dreamtime. The Central motif is Ngalyipi (Tinospora smilacina) or Snake Vine, which grows along the trunks and boughs of the Desert Oak. The vine is used to strap coolamons to the body when laden with bush tucker; as a tourniquet; and for a number of other uses as well as its role in important women’s ceremonies.


INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

39


36 ROVER THOMAS JOOLAMA (1926 - 1998) WILLY WILLY, 1994

92 x 122 cm natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

EST $22,000 - 28,000 PROVENANCE Warmun Community Council Inc., NT Cat No. RT 11.94 Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA 00253 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2007, Lot No. 159 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Kimberley Art

40

|

COOEE ART

EXHIBITED Kimberley Art, Baudoin Lebon, Paris, 1996 Musee Clemont-Ferrand, France, 1997 Australian Exhibition Center, Chicago, USA, 1999 ILLUSTRATED Ref: Illustrated, Fire and Shadow: Spirituality in Contemporary Australian Art, Drury & Voigt, Gordon & Breach International, 1996, p.83 Acclaimed as a cultural leader and the seminal figure in establishing the East Kimberley School, Rover Thomas holds a primary place in the history of the Indigenous art movement. On the morning of Christmas Eve 1974, the cyclone moved directly over Darwin with wind gusts reaching 240 kilometers per hour. Ninety percent of homes were destroyed or badly damaged, and over sixty-five lives were lost. As the title of this work suggests, it depicts the spiraling cyclone and dust storm which devastated Darwin, sucking up everything in its path. Rover Thomas is recognised as one of the most important figures in contemporary Indigenous Art. His legacy is a substantial body of significant paintings which provide an enduring, unique, insight into the spiritual landscape of the Kimberley region and the human relationships and events within it.

40


37 JACK DALE (1922 - 2013 ) WANDJINAS FROM ALBERT POINT, 2007

203 x 165 cm synthetic polymer paint and natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Commissioned from the artist, Derby, WA Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2009, Lot No. 197 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio and 2 photographs of the artist with the painting Sometimes referred to as the ‘Grand Old Man of the Kimberley’, Jack Dale came to painting late in life, after many hard-working years as a stockman. As one of the last of the dwindling generation of old men who possessed complete knowledge of the rituals, law, and culture of his people, Dale was a vital link to the past. His most compelling and mysterious works focus on the Wandjina and other important spirit beings that created the land and instituted the laws that govern human behaviour. Wandjinas are powerful fertility spirits, responsible for the life-giving monsoon rains. Dale depicted these spirits in a distinctive style: ghost-like, with halos, and large, dark, pool-like eyes, without mouths, as he believed that giving them a mouth would mean the heavens would open and the rain would never cease.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

41


38 CHURCHILL YOONANY CANN (1947 - 2016) BUNGLE BUNGLE, 1994

PROVENANCE Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA.CC..001/94 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 223 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

79 x 120 cm; 106 x 141.5 cm (framed) natural earth pigments on paper

EST $800 - 1,200

39 BEERBEE JOONGOORRA MUNGNARI (1933 - 2013)

ARGUMENT GAP, 2002

91 x 180 cm natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

EST $1,000 - 2,000 42

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Narrangunny Art Traders, WA Cat No. N-2412-BM Private Collection, SA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 271 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic


40 KUDDITJI KNGWARREYE (1938 - 2017) MY COUNTRY, 2006

133 x 115 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat No. AGOD#11908 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic For the majority of his life, Kudditji Kngwarreye worked as a stockman, like many other Indigenous men who resided on pastoral leases throughout Central Australia. Kudditji was one of the first established male artists at Utopia. He was the traditional custodian of many important Dreamings of the land and Men’s Business, as well as ceremonial sites located in his country at Utopia Station, about 230 km north east of Alice Springs. ‘My Country’, represents the wild flowers found in the desert landscape. The artist’s brushstrokes were loose and confident, as he applied colour in geometrically arrayed patterns. Works like this are reminiscent of the style of his late sister, Emily Kngwarreye, who was also praised for her bold brush strokes and remarkable sense of colour, accentuating the natural colours of land and sky over various seasons.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

43


41 TURKEY TOLSON TJUPURRULA (1942 - 2001) SPEAR DREAMING, 2000

56.5 x 137 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $1,800 - 2,200

PROVENANCE Jinta Desert Art, NSW Cat No. SN-3708 Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2010, Lot No. 122 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Jinta Desert Art Turkey Tolson introduced his Spear Straightening imagery around 1990 in which horizontal bands of dots change colour subtly evoking the shimmering heat of the fire and the vast distances of the artist’s desert country. In the accompanying Dreaming narrative, the Mitukatjirri Men, travelled from a claypan at Tjulula to llyingaungau, a rocky outcrop far to the west of Alice Springs, where they made camp. At this time a group of men entered the country from Tikari, to the north. A fight ensued after which the Mitukatjarri Men travelled to the nearby cave where they made their ceremonies. The parallel bands represent spears, which the men straightened by warming the wood over a fire, bending it into shape as they waited for the men from Tikari to arrive. Within this powerful work lies the deep knowledge of a fully initiated man who has imbued it with the spirit of his ancestors and their important stories.

44

|

COOEE ART


42 GREENY PURVIS PETYARRE (c.1930 - 2010) YAM DREAMING, 2000

PROVENANCE Mbantua Gallery, NT Cat No. MB11452 Private Collection, NT Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, November 2005, Lot No. 120 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

210 x 152.5 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Accompanied by certificate of authenticity from Mbantua Gallery and 3 photographs of the artist with the painting

EST $2,500 - 3,500

Greeny Purvis Petyarre was a highly respected elder in Utopia and the eldest nephew of Emily Kame Kngwarreye. His father, Alhalkere Jack, was Emily’s brother. He was the senior “Emu Man” of Utopia, and also painted the Turkey, Yam and Kangaroo Dreamings. In this painting he portrayed elements associated with the Yam Dreaming in colours that indicate the different stages and seasons in the growth and appearance of the yam seed as it matures.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

45


43 GEORGE (HAIRBRUSH) TJUNGURRAYI (c.1943 -) TINGARI, 2004

111 x 101 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $2,000 - 3,000

PROVENANCE Red Sand Art Gallery, NT Cat No. GT2004 Private Collection, SA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2007, Lot No. 268 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Red Sand Art Gallery Born near the claypan and soakwater site of Wala Wala in the far reaches of the Western Desert, George Tjungurrayi began painting around 1976 after encouragement from Nosepeg Tjupurrula. Over the following decade he worked intermittently at Yayayi and Mount Liebig, and also Walungurru. His works, created during the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, were characterized by the ubiquitous dotted grids of lines and circles common to the Tingari imagery created by his Pintupi clansmen relating to significant sites including his birthplace Wala Wala, and the surrounding region. His reductive, linear works first appeared in the mid 1990s. While it may be challenging to reconcile these contemporary images with their traditional content, the overall shimmer he effects with seemingly minimal application radiates the artist’s authority and self-assuredness.

46

|

COOEE ART


44 NINGURA GIBSON NAPURRULA (c.1938 - 2013) SOAKAGE WATER OF NGAMINYA, 2004

150 x 120 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Arnhem Land Art, NT Cat No. NN0410 Mason Gallery, NT Private Collection,Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2006, Lot No.22 Menzies Estate Collection,Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Mason Gallery and a portfolio of 17 photographs of artist creating the work Ningura Naparrula was born at Watulka, in the Western Desert and travelled with her husband Yala Yala Gibbs when in her early 20s to Papunya where she assisted him on his precise and detailed Tingari Paintings after he became a founding member of the Papunya Tula artists. By 1995, this influence was apparent when she began painting in her own right. Ningura’s dynamic compositions are characterised by strong linear designs, which are slowly built up through intricate patterning, and appear boldly defined upon a background of dense, monochrome infilling. Their subject centres on her female ancestors who travelled the vast country, creating sacred sites and establishing customs and ceremonies. This work depicts designs associated with the Women’s ceremonies at the rockhole site of Ngaminya, south of Kiwikurra. The roundels are the rock holes and the campsites where the women gather for ceremony among the surrounding rocky hills and outcrops of the area.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

47


45 TURKEY TOLSON TJUPURRULA (1942 - 2001) SPEAR CEREMONY, 1998

90 x 152 cm; 96 x 158 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Yapa Artists, NT Private Collection, NSW Cooee Art, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, August 2013, Lot No. 85 Menzies Estate Collection,Vic In this classic example the horizontal bands of dots change colour subtly evoking the shimmering heat of the fire and the vast distances of the artist’s desert country. Within this powerful work lies the deep knowledge of a fully initiated man who has imbued it with the spirit of his ancestors and their important stories. The parallel bands represent spears, which the Mitukatjirri Men straightened by warming the wood over a fire, bending it into shape. In the Dreaming, they travelled from a claypan at Tjulula to llyingaungau, a rocky outcrop far to the west of Alice Springs, where they made camp while they waited for the men from Tikari to arrive.

48

|

COOEE ART


46 JACK DALE (1922 - 2013) JALALA - WANDJINA MARKING STONES, 2007

156.5 x 240 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Neil McLeod Fine Arts, Vic Cat No. NM1531 Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2010, Lot No. 119 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic As one of the last of the dwindling generation of old men who possessed complete knowledge of the rituals, law, and culture of his people, Jack Dale was a vital link to the past. His most compelling and mysterious works focus on the Wandjina and other important spirit beings that created the land and instituted the laws that govern human behaviour. Wandjina sites, located throughout the Kimberley, are over 60,000 years old and are painted on rock overhangs, often marked by striking geological features like the Jalala or ‘marking stones’ that indicate their presence as depicted in this painting.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

49


47 ROVER THOMAS JOOLAMA (1926 - 1998) MOUNTAINS STOCK ROUTE BUNGLES, 1985

60 x 90 cm; 78 x 109 cm (framed) natural earth pigments on board

EST $18,000 - 22,000

50

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2008, Lot No. 235 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from the Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings Rover Thomas’ style is unique in the way that he simultaneously represents aerial and lateral perspectives on landscape. These two viewpoints enable the observer to see the country as one entity (the division between earth and sky having been regarded by the artist as erroneous). Thomas worked as a jackaroo on the Canning Stock Route, and later on cattle stations situated on the fringes of the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts before her began painting in 1981. In this work, he depicted the hills on Bedford Station where, according to oral history, Aboriginal people were killed after being poisoned with strychnine added to their food by station owner Paddy Quilty and his men in 1924. Only one man, Major, escaped to tell the tale by climbing Bedford Hill. Major went on to become a notorious bushranger who sought retribution until he was ambushed and killed a year later.


48 ROVER THOMAS JOOLAMA (1926 - 1998) CYCLONE TRACY - LIGHTENING BOLT, 1995

97.5 x 122 cm; 101.4 x 127 cm (framed) natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

EST $20,000 - 25,000

PROVENANCE Outback Alive Gallery, Qld Cat No. OA792NSW Phillips Auctioneers, 20th Century Art & Design, NSW, May 1998, Lot No. 3 Menzies Estate Collection,Vic ILLISTRATED Blackness in the art of Rover Thomas’, Art and Australia,Vol 35, No.1, 1997, p.99 In this work Rover Thomas depicts a lightning bolt that accompanied the storms of Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin, NT in 1974, as a striking black force. Louis Nowra wrote that Rover’s ‘use of blackness takes on an iconic power’. In his 1991 painting Cyclone Tracy he noted that ‘The cyclone is blackness personified......rarely has black been used so powerfully’. He described Thomas’s use of black throughout his career as being ‘singular’, and ‘flamboyant’.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

51


49 JOHNNY WARANGKULA TJUPURRULA (c.1932 - 2001)

PANGKALANGKU MEN, 2001

246.5 x 500.5 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $60,000 - 120,000

PROVENANCE Yanda Aboriginal Art, NT Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2009, Lot No. 142 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic This is the last work the artist painted in a long and illustrious career. Born in the far reaches of the Western Desert, Johnny Warangkula encountered the outside world at just 12 years of age. Johnny Warangkula was foremost amongst those who fundamentally shaped the Papunya art movement. However by the mid 1980s his eyesight began to fail and his painting became infrequent. By the end of the 1990s he was old and relatively infirm.Yet even at this late stage he was capable of creating raw expressionistic paintings. Over his thirty-year career, Warangkula cut a distinctive figure, always wearing his stockman’s hat and charming visitors with his enigmatic but sincere personality. He was oblivious to the attractions of life beyond the power and responsibilities of his Dreamings. His paintings captivate the viewer with the power of his ancient knowledge.

52

|

COOEE ART


50 MICK NAMARARI TJAPALTJARRI (1926 - 1998) MOUSE DREAMING, c.1995

188 x 161 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $3,000 - 5,000

PROVENANCE Private Commission, 1995 Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, Vic, August 1998, Lot No. 18 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Mick Namarari was born at Marnpi, south west of Mount Rennie and was on the Papunya community council when Geoff Bardon arrived there to teach art in 1971. He was one of the first to express an interest in painting for Bardon shortly after his arrival, and was a founding member of the Papunya Tula Artists cooperative the following year. While deceptively simple in its execution, this painting drawings the viewer’s eye through a complex visual landscape. The story depicted is the Tjunginpa (Mouse) Dreaming at Tunginpa, a hill north-west of Kintore. The overall dotting represents the footprints of each mouse and also Kampurarrpa, an edible berry, which is eaten by the mouse. Men of the Tiapaltjarri kinship are custodians for the ceremonies associated with this mythology.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

53


51 GEORGE WARD TJUNGURRAYI (1945 - 2023) SOAKAGE WATER OF KIRRIMALUNYA, 2005

123 x 212.5 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $8,000 - 12,000

PROVENANCE Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA0070, GWT0417 Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2010, Lot No. 146 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Kimberley Australian Aboriginal Art Although they were born of different mothers, George Ward shared the same father with Yala Yala Gibbs and Willy Tjungurrayi. They arrived in Papunya in the early 1960s while still in their teenage years. He began to paint in 1976, assisting senior artists. The creation of large works during these early years of the Western Desert art movement involved many men at various levels of responsibility. For the younger ones, like George, it was an apprenticeship in the skills, knowledge and cultural obligations required for the artistic vocation and for eventual ceremonial leadership within his tribal area. Though he was reputed to have completed several canvases during the early 1980s, he did not begin painting in earnest until after the death of his brother Yala Yala Gibbs in 1998. He rapidly developed his own style based on men’s designs used to adorn ceremonial artifacts including dance regalia with their mesmeric interlocking geometric and parallel linear patterning.

54

|

COOEE ART


52 RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA (c. 1943 - 2023) TINGARI DREAMING, 2004

200 x 300 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $20,000 - 40,000

PROVENANCE Commissioned by Ladner Fell Gallery, Vic Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 204 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by copy of the certificate of authenticity from Ladner Fell Gallery and a portfolio of 6 working photographs Ronnie Tjampitjinpa’s works first appeared in Papunya Tula exhibitions during the 1970s, and later in commercial art galleries in Sydney and Melbourne throughout the 1980s. He won the Alice Springs Art Prize in 1988 and this was followed by successive solo exhibitions at Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in 1989 and 1990. While it may be challenging to reconcile his reductive linear works which first appeared in the mid 1990s, with their traditional content, the overall shimmer he effects with seemingly minimal application radiates the artist’s authority and self-assuredness. This painting represents a site on the Tingari creation songline. Since events associated with the Tingari cycle are of a secret nature no further details are given.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

55


53 ROVER THOMAS JOOLAMA (1926 - 1998) GREAT SANDY DESERT, 1995

115 x 197 cm; 123 x 204 cm (framed) natural earth pigments on linen with natural binders

EST $35,000 - 45,000

56

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Commissioned from Rover Thomas during his painting trip to Melbourne, June 1995 Neil McLeod Fine Art Studio, Vic Cat No. KA/RT 1260 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2007, Lot No. 51 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio This mysteriously restful and yet haunting image gives us a window into the artist’s mind’s eye. In his true minimalist style, the Canning Stock Route, a heavy line bordered by white dots, surrounds and frames a richly vivid image of the Great Sandy Desert. Rover indicated that the sparse ethereal washed ground created in broad brushstrokes depicted sand patterns and changing lights in this vast desert region through which he travelled as a young man.


54 CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI (c.1933 - 2002)

TJUNGURRAYI AND TJAPALTJARRI DREAMING, 1998

120 x 237 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $30,000 - 50,000 PROVENANCE Artspeak Gallery, Vic Cat. No.TTD9805 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2007, Lot No. 66 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

This masterful painting gives symbolic expression to a secret/sacred Malierra (initiation) Ceremony, which rests at the heart of this Tjungurrayi and Tjapaltjarri Dreaming that is associated to a men’s business camp at Larumba, or otherwise known as Napperby, which forms part of Anmatyerre territory. The arc motifs resting in front of the men (U-Shapes) lend expression to the men’s ceremonial body paint designs, as do the straight parallel bands shown along the picture plane. Likewise the linear dot patterning along the centre of this painting also represents ritual body art, though at the same time it represents Napperby Lake, which flows beneath the earth’s surface at Larumba where the men and youths are in ceremony. The star-like motifs represent native Spinifex grass. Ash from burnt Spinifex is also used in Malierra. One of the most fundamental elements in this ceremony is the men’s sacred ground design, which is depicted in this work as three concentric circles.

Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Artspeak Studio Gallery and 2 photographs of artist creating the work

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

57


55 GEORGE (HAIRBRUSH) TJUNGURRAYI (1947- ) TINGARI, c.2001

121 x 210 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $6,000 - 8,000

PROVENANCE Painted at Kintore, NT Cat No. BB22001 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 211 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a photograph of the artist with the artwork Born near the claypan and soakwater site of Wala Wala in the far reaches of the Western Desert, George Tjungurrayi began painting around 1976 after encouragement from Nosepeg Tjupurrula. His preoccupation from the outset had been the ceremonial activities and men’s stories associated with the travels of the Tingari ancestors as they relate to his most significant sites including his birthplace Wala Wala, and the region surrounding Kiwirrkura, Lake Mackay, Kulkuta, Karku, Ngaluwinyamana, and Kilpinya to the north-west of Kintore. His reductive, linear works first appeared in the mid 1990s. While it may be challenging to reconcile these contemporary images with their traditional content, the overall shimmer he effects with seemingly minimal application radiates the artist’s authority and self-assuredness.

58

|

COOEE ART


56 NINGURA GIBSON NAPURRULA (c.1938 - 2013) CEREMONY, 2007

142.5 x 144 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Centre for Indigenous Support in Art and Culture, NSW Cat No: CISAC:NNG#03:17.05.07 Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2008, Lot No. 285 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Ningura Naparrula was born deep in the Western Desert and travelled with her husband Yala Yala Gibbs to Papunya when in her early 20s. After Yala Yala Gibbs became a founding member of the Papunya Tula artists group, she assisted him on his precise and detailed Tingari Paintings. She began painting in her own right in the second year of the Haasts Bluff/Kintore women’s painting camp. Her dynamic compositions are characterised by strong linear designs, which are slowly built up through intricate patterning and appear boldly defined upon a background of dense, monochromatic in-filling. Her focus centers upon her female ancestors who travelled the vast country, creating sacred sites and establishing customs and ceremonies.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

59


57 MICK NAMARARI TJAPALTJARRI (1926 - 1998) MARSUPIAL MOUSE DREAMING, 1998

60 x 127 cm; 67 x 135 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $1,500 - 2,500

60

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Jinta Desert Art, NSW Cat No. SN-2563 Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2010, Lot No. 118 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Namarari was a prolific painter during the 1980s and, toward the end of his career in the mid-1990s, his works tended to become atmospheric and minimalist. This painting was created in the year that he died. The story depicted is the Tjunginpa (Mouse) Dreaming at Tunginpa, a hill north-west of Kintore. The overall dotting represents the footprints of each mouse and also Kampurarrpa, an edible berry, which is eaten by the mouse.


58 NAATA NUNGURRAYI (1932 - 2021) WOMEN AT MARRAPINTI, 2001

93.5 x 154 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $5,000 - 8,000

PROVENANCE Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA00515 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2009, Lot No. 199 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Kimberley Art and a portfolio of 4 photographs of the artist creating the artwork Naata Nungurrayi was about 30 years of age when she brought with her family to Papunya after leaving behind her beloved desert homelands in the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. She settled in the Kintore region in the early 1980s and began creating paintings in a carefully composed geometric style for Papunya Tula Artists in 1996. This painting, in her tight grid style, depicts designs associated with the rockhole and soakage water site of Marrapinti. The lines are sandhills surrounding the area. A large group of senior women camped at this rockhole making the nose-bones which are worn through a hole in the nose web.These nose-bones were originally worn by both men and women but are now only worn by the older generation on ceremonial occasions. The women later traveled east passing through Wala Wala, Kiwirrkura and Ngaminya.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

61


59 MINNIE PWERLE (1910 - 2006) AWELYE ATNWENGERRP, 2000

50 x 148 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $4,000 - 5,000

PROVENANCE Dacou Gallery, SA Cat No. DG 03935 Art Mob Aboriginal Fine Art, Tas Cat No. AM 443/02 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic In this work, Minnie Pwerle depicts the ceremony relating to the bush melon is represented by a series of lines painted in differing widths, patterns and colours, creating circles and swirls, which represent breast designs and melon seeds. The designs painted on the top half of women’s bodies are boldly depicted in a patchwork of colour strewn across the canvas as if seen on the moving swirling bodies of the ceremonial participants by firelight. The tiny melon bush, once abundant and fruiting in the summer season, is now hard to find. The bush melon fruit is collected by women and eaten immediately or cut into pieces, skewered onto pieces of wood, and then dried to be eaten over the coming months when bush tucker is scarce.

62

|

COOEE ART


60 KUDDITJI KNGWARREYE (1938 - 2017) MY COUNTRY, 2005

180 x 124 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat No. AGOD#10955 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2009, Lot No. 112 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings and 7 images of the artist creating the artwork. For the majority of his life, Kudditji Kngwarreye worked as a stockman, like many other Indigenous men who resided on pastoral leases throughout Central Australia. He was one of the first established male artists at Utopia a traditional custodian of many important Dreamings of the land and Men’s Business, as well as ceremonial sites located in his country at Utopia Station, about 230 km north east of Alice Springs. ‘My Country’, represents the wild flowers found in the desert landscape. The artist’s brushstrokes were loose and confident, as he applied colour in geometrically arrayed patterns. Works like this are reminiscent of the style of his sister, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who was also praised for her bold brush strokes and remarkable sense of colour, accentuating the natural colours of land and sky over various seasons.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

63


Judy Watson Napangardi (c.1925 - 2016) Born on Mt. Doreen Station, north-west of Alice Springs circa 1925, Judy Watson grew up in the vast Warlpiri country that lies between the Tanami and Gibson deserts. Her traditional nomadic life came to an end, however, when the Warlpiri were forced to live in the new government settlement at Yuendumu. Years later, following the birth of her ten children amid great struggles living under European colonisation, the influence of those early years in the land of her ancestors burst forth in her art. Her principal focus was the women’s Dreaming of the Karnta-kurlangu – a large number of ancestral women who danced across the land, creating important sites, discovering plants, foods, and medicines, as well as establishing the ceremonies that would perpetuate their generative powers. At Mina Mina, these ancestral women danced and performed ceremonies before traveling on to Janyinki and other sites as they moved east toward Alcoota. During their ritual dancing, digging sticks rose up out of the ground and the women carried these implements with them on their long journey east, singing and dancing all the way without rest. The hairstring is anointed with red ochre and is a secret and sacred connection between the women’s ceremony and the country, which enables them to connect with the spirit of the Dreaming. At Mina Mina, these ancestral women danced and performed ceremonies before traveling to Janyinki and other sites as they moved east toward Alcoota. During their ritual dancing, digging sticks rose up out of the ground and the women carried these implements with them on their long journey east singing and dancing all the way, with no sleep. 64

|

COOEE ART


61 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016) MINA MINA DREAMING, 2007

121 x 90 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $3,000 - 4,000 PROVENANCE Galleries Direct, NSW Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, February 2011, Lot No. 159 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Galleries Direct and a portfolio of 29 working photographs

62 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016) KARNTA JUKURRPA (WOMEN’S DREAMING), 1989

61 x 77 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $2,000 - 3,000 PROVENANCE Warlukurlangu Artists, NT Cat No. 122/89 Austral Gallery, USA Private Collection, USA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 292 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

65


63 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016) CEREMONY, 2007

122 x 90 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $3,000 - 4,000

66

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Centre for Indigenous Support in Art and Culture, NSW Cat No. CISAC: JNW#002:12-05-07 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2008, Lot No. 294 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic


64 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016) MINA MINA, SNAKE VINE, 1999

147 x 91 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

PROVENANCE Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA00135 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 77 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Kimberley Art and 2 photographs of the artist with the work

EST $4,000 - 5,000

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

67


65 LINDSAY BIRD MPETYANE (c.1940 - ) AMMATYERRE COUNTRY, 1990

182.5 x 475 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $10,000 - 15,000 PROVENANCE Outback Alive, Qld Cat No. MB 1636 Private Collection, Vic Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, Vic. June 2000, Lot No. 85 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Outback Alive and two working photos One of few male Utopia artists, Lindsay Bird Mpetyane is an important tribal leader of his country, Ilkawerne, in the Utopia District which is North East of Alice Springs. He is the cousin to Greeny Petyarre and brother in law to Ada Bird. In this painting the artist has set about to explain the rituals of ceremony commemorating the Rainbow Serpent. The ceremony is conducted at different sites and are designated by roundels. Men and women gather together to perform ceremonies associated with the Creation figure. The snakes represent the different areas the Serpent travelled (Amaroo to Mulga Bore) during Creation. The background represents the different textures of the land. 68

|

COOEE ART


66 RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA (c. 1943 - 2023) TINGARI CYCLE, 1997

212 x 374 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $40,000 - 60,000 PROVENANCE Kimberley Art, Vic Cat No. KA707/97 Fireworks Gallery, Qld Cat No. FW6038 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, June 2008, Lot No. 221 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Ronnie Tjampitjinpa’s works first appeared in Papunya Tula exhibitions during the 1970s, and later in commercial art galleries in Sydney and Melbourne throughout the 1980s. He won the Alice Springs Art Prize in 1988, followed by successive solo exhibitions at Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in 1989 and 1990. More than any other Western Desert artist, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa can be credited with having forged a new artistic direction in embracing aesthetic minimalism during the 1990s. His hypnotic designs explore interacting geometric shapes which evoke an eye-catching, pulsating illusion. Still infused with the Dreamings of his mythical Tingari ancestors, Tjampitjinpa refined the characteristic Pintupi simplicity of design, boldly scaling up fundamental pictorial elements, freeing them from their iconographic reference points and strongly emphasising the distinctive repetition of line and form that has always infused Pintupi art with the spirit of their vast and ancient lands.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

69


67 CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI (c.1933 - 2002)

MEN’S INITIATION: SPIDER DREAMING, 1999

184 x 201 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $20,000 - 30,000

PROVENANCE Jinta Desert Art, NSW Cat No. SN3280 Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2006, Lot No. 114 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Clifford Possum, Tim Leura, and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, were all Anmatjerre tribesmen displaced from their traditional lands by the cattle industry. Clifford was employed at the Papunya School in the early 1970s and was encouraged by his brother, Tim Leura, to begin painting. For more than 30 years, Possum sustained a painting career based upon a decisively different vision in the representation of his Dreamings and became the most highly recognised, and revered, of Australia’s desert painters. In this masterful work, created in 1999, Clifford portrayed the ‘Spider Dreaming’ that is intimately associated with the men’s ceremonies that direct the path of young Japaltjarri and Jungurrayi boys into manhood in the region around Mount Dennison and Mount Allan, the artist’s birth place. The double parallel lines symbolise the initiation scaring on the chest of fully initiated men. Their string body belts are the four snake-like motifs. The curved lines with concentric circles at their centre represent the ancestral spiders and the holes where they made their way beneath the earth’s surface during the creation period.The bold motifs in the centre are Spinifex grass and Spider Men sitting with their spears.

70

|

COOEE ART


68 ROVER THOMAS JOOLAMA (1926 - 1998) POMPEY’S PILLAR , 1995

126 x 90 cm natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

EST $20,000 - 25,000

PROVENANCE Utopia Art, NSW Barry Stern Gallery Paddington, NSW Cat No. BSG214MM Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 179 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Pompey’s Pillar lies close by the Warmun community at Turkey Creek and is a prominent landmark along the road to Kununurra. This is the home of the legendary Bat (Pangkalji) and Blue-tongued Lizard (Lumuku) who are mentioned in the verses of the Krill Krill ceremony that was devised by the artist. After killing a crocodile at a spring at Mt. Evelyn the little fruit bat hid in a cave to elude his pursuers and sought refuge at Pompey’s Pillar. Rover Thomas’ style is unique in the way that he simultaneously represents aerial and lateral perspectives on landscape. These two viewpoints enable the observer to see the country as one entity.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

71


70

69 ARONE MEEKS (1957 - 2021)

DANIE MELLOR (1971 - )

TRANSCENDING BUSH FIGURE 2, c.1989

TRUNK SHIELD, 2003

EST $600-900

EST $1,500 - 2,000

205h x 29w cm synthetic polymer paint on wood

PROVENANCE Cooee Art, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 170 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Kuku Midiji artist Arone Meeks was the first Aboriginal artist in residence at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. During the following years he exhibited all over Europe and North America. His book, Enora and the Black Crane won the UNICEF Ezra Jack Keats Award for the best international children’s book in 1991. Arone eventually settled in Cairns and established himself as a leading figure in the art of equatorial Queensland mentoring young and emerging artists.

72

|

COOEE ART

102h x 45w cm steel and varnish

PROVENANCE Fireworks Gallery, Qld Cat No. 7354 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2007, Lot No. 98 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Fireworks gallery Born in Mackay, Queensland, Danie Mellor is a versatile artist whose creative repertoire encompasses sculpture, photography, printmaking, and drawing. In this Trunk Shield, Mellor utilises reclaimed metal sourced from the base of a vintage traveling trunk as a potent metaphor to convey the displacement experienced by his great-grandmother, a member of the Mamu/Ngadjonji people. The gradual deterioration of the shield’s metal surface serves as a poignant allusion to the erosion of traditional Indigenous culture over time, a consequence of the influence and intervention of Christian missionaries.


72

71 ARTISTS ONCE KNOWN AN EARLY WEST AUSTRALIAN FIGHTING CLUB AND COOLAMON, c.1890 57h x 2.5w and 36h x 17w cm carved wood

ARTIST ONCE KNOWN WUNDA SHIELD KIMBERLEY AREA, c.1960 71h cm x 16w cm natural earth pigments on carved wood

EST $1,500 - 2,000

EST $1,000 -1,500 PROVENANCE Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2004, Lot No. 119 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Collected by two brothers who rode on horseback in the South Kimberley area in the 1890s and subsequently stored in Kalgoorlie for over 100 years. The coolamon of ovoid form - the outer convex side shaped by hand with adzed markings. The concave inner surface smooth. The fighting club replete with striated grooves. Both with lustrous copper-coloured and aged patina.

PROVENANCE Collected Broome, WA Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 61 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Carved in hardwood of ovoid shape, both the front and the back decorated with deeply fluted zigzag design infilled with traces of black, red, and white natural earth pigments. Wunda Shields are typically identified by fluted channels running parallel with each other in three distinctive directions. The central panel is always diagonal or horizontal. They are defined individually or in blocks with bands of colour. Though they were found throughout Western Australia their manufacture was centred around the Murchison and Gascoyne River region.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

73


73

74

ARTIST ONCE KNOWN EQUATORIAL QUEENSLAND RAINFOREST BICORNUAL BASKET, c.1940’s 42h x 30d (top) cm woven pandanus fibre and natural earth pigment

EST $1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Private Collection, Qld Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2006, Lot No. 193 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic This two-cornered basket made from lawyer cane has a circular mouth with a body that opens out with curved lines ending in sharply pointed corners. These baskets are rare and were made by the people in the rainforest area from around Cooktown in the north, to the Cardwell area in the south on the eastern coast of Cape York. Their form combines strength with flexibility.

74

|

COOEE ART

ARTIST ONCE KNOWN A COLLECTION OF SEVEN CEREMONIAL SPEARS, NORTH EAST ARNHEM LAND, c.1970 122 cm; 122 cm; 123 cm; 126 cm; 115 cm; 124 cm; 128 cm natural earth pigments on carved wood

EST $600 - 800 PROVENANCE Private Collection, NT Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2004, Lot No. 163, 164 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic


75 ARTISTS ONCE KNOWN A COLLECTION OF THREE ARTEFACTS EST $1,800 - 2,200 a. A West Australian Softwood Shield, c. 1930s 93h x 14w cm collected in Turkey Creek. Of elongated ovoid form with pointed ends and a raised ridged handle and decorated with animal motifs. b. A Victorian Mission Parrying Shield, c. 1930 72h x 14w cm Of elongated lozenge form, solid cut handle, the triangular convex front and decorated with fine burnt engravings.

SCAN QR CODE TO VIEW LOTS 75, 76 AND 77

76

c. A Central Australian Ceremonial Men’s Hairpin, c. 1900 27h x 3.5w cm The front and back deeply incised with men’s key pattern. The front and back deeply incised with men’s key pattern.

77

ARTISTS ONCE KNOWN A COLLECTION OF FOUR ARTEFACTS EST $2,000 - 3,000

ARTISTS ONCE KNOWN A COLLECTION OF EIGHT ARTEFACTS EST $1,000 -1,500

a. A South Australian hardwood fighting boomerang, early 20th century 97 x 7w cm Of bi-convex profile, and elongated pointed form with gentle curvature. Its front and back decorated with fine linear striated fluting, fine aged patina. b. A South-East Australian Leangle Club, early to mid 19th century 65l x 9w(top) cm The proximal end grooved with alternate bands of crosshatched incisions terminating in a large conical knob divided in a series of circular layers reducing to tip. The body unadorned and extending in a sickle form with large beaked distal end, old patina. c. A Central Australian Desert Hardwood Fighting Boomerang, c. 1950 64l x 6w cm. d. A Central Australian Desert Hardwood Fighting Boomerang, c. 1950 76l x 7w cm Boomerangs such as these were used for hunting and also used as a fire making tool in conjunction with a softwood shield, or pairs as clap sticks in ceremonies.

a. A Pair of Spear Throwers, c.1970 90l x 6w cm, 73l x 4w cm North East Arnhem Land b. A Woven Dilly Bag, Central Arnhem Land, c.1970 26l x 17d (top) cm c. A Central Desert Decorated Coolamon, c.1990 132h x 33w cm d. A Pair of Ceremonial Music Sticks, c.1970s, 40l x 4w cm, 28.5 cm North Eastern Arnhem Land, e. A Ceremonial Figure, c.1950s 56.5h x 6w cm Tanami Desert, f. Two Softwood Sculptures from North-East Arnhem Land 21h x 6w cm, 19h x 5w cm g. A Painted and Decorated Shield Central Desert, c.1990 72h x 19w cm h. A Tiwi Hardwood Pole c.1990 54h x 11d (bottom) cm

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

75


78

79

ARTIST ONCE KNOWN ENGRAVED SLATE, GWION FIGURES, 1987 33h x 20w cm incised slate and natural earth pigments

EST $200 - 400 PROVENANCE Private Collection, NT Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 286 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic

76

|

COOEE ART

ARTIST ONCE KNOWN LONKA LONKA WESTERN AUSTRALIA , c.1960

22h x 15w cm Pearl shell incised with traditional designs in-filled with natural earth pigments and pierced at the top for suspension

EST $600 - 800 PROVENANCE Private Collection, SA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 110 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic


a.

b.

c.

80 ARTISTS ONCE KNOWN A COLLECTION OF THREE BARKS PAINTINGS

various natural earth pigments on stringy bark

EST $1,000 - 1,500

a. HUNTER AND BIRDS, c.1969

30 x 61 cm natural earth pigments on stringy bark Wadeye (Port Keats), NT

b. STINGRAY, c.1968

52 x 31 cm natural earth pigments on stringy bark Elcho Island, NT

c. BONJUL, THE FRILLED NECK LIZARD AND HIS SISTER, c.1985 59 x 27.5 cm natural earth pigments on stringy bark Central Queensland, Qld

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

77


81 JUDY WATSON (1959 - ) RED ROCK, 1998

56.5 x 76 cm colour lithograph

EST $150 - 250

PROVENANCE Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 65 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Judy Watson, born in Munduberra, Queensland, Australia in 1959, is a prominent artist who currently resides and creates in Brisbane. Her diverse artistic repertoire encompasses printmaking, drawing, painting, and installation, all of which serve as conduits for her exploration of themes closely tied to her Aboriginal heritage. Her work is a powerful tribute to the enduring spirit of Indigenous peoples and their deep-rooted connection to their cultural heritage and the land. According to the artist, this lithograph evokes the healing power and meaning of ochre. It is about resistance and the survival of Aboriginal people.

78

|

COOEE ART


82

LLOYD KWILLA (1980 - ) KULYAYI WATERHOLE, 2008

100 x 80 cm natural earth pigments on canvas

EST $2,500 - 3,500

PROVENANCE Red Rock Art Gallery, WA Cat No. KP2587 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Red Rock Art Gallery The artist has spent most of his life in his traditional country on the Northern fringes of the Great Sandy Desert Northern Western Australia. His father Billy Thomas, taught him a great deal about the land and its features. This painting shows a small waterhole close to the Canning Stock Route called ‘Kulyayi’. All around are Sandhills ‘Tali’ that are ablaze with wildfire.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

79


83 LORNA BROWN NAPANANGKA (1962 - ) SITE OF WARREN CREEK, 2002 122 x 92 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. LB0203028 Fireworks Gallery, Qld Cat No. 6028 Private Collection, Qld Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2005, Lot No. 187 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Born near Haasts Bluff around 1965, Lorna’s life journey has been intertwined with the landscapes of Mt. Liebig, Haasts Bluff, and Papunya. Her canvases come alive with depictions of the sand lines sculpted by the wind, the ochre outcrops that punctuate the terrain, and the interplay of intense sunlight against the lush desert oaks. Her pieces often portray the significance of rocks and water holes as sites where women gather for ceremonial practices and sustenance, preserving the cultural heritage of her people.

84 ELIZABETH MARKS NAKAMARRA (1955 - ) KALIPINPA ROCKHOLE, 2005

91 x 122 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Papunya Tula, NT Cat No. EM0504252 Artitja Fine Art, WA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 82 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Elizabeth was raised by Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula after her father passed away and was married to Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri. In 1999 she became the first woman to be appointed a director of Papunya Tula Artists.This painting depicts the designs associated with the rockhole of Kalipinpa, a major water dreaming site, north of Sandy Blight Junction. In mythological times a huge storm erupted in this area causing the water to rush across the land filling the rockholes and forming small creeks. 80

|

COOEE ART


85 RAY JAMES TJANGALA (1956 -) TINGARI CYCLE, 2003

152 x 182.5 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $2,000 - 3,000

PROVENANCE Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. RJ0308085 Private Collection,Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, May 2006, Lot No. 209 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Ray James Tjangala is the son of Anatjari Tjampitjinpa, one of the early painters of the Papunya Tula movement, and with his father’s instruction, Ray first tried painting in 1987. However, it was not until the mid 1990s that Ray emerged as one of the core group of second-generation artists at Kiwirrkurra. Ray has appeared in numerous group exhibitions and has work in the collections of the Flinders University Art Museum, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Aboriginal Art Museum in the Netherlands.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

81


86 LORNA BROWN NAPANANGKA (1962 - ) MY GRANDFATHER’S COUNTRY, 2004

61 x 56 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $800 - 1,000

PROVENANCE Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. LB0402049 Alcaston Gallery, Vic Cat No. AK10513 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 340 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate from the Alcaston Gallery Lorna Brown Napanangka is renowned for her diverse artistic expressions that reflect her deep connection to the country of her ancestors. Born near Haasts Bluff around 1965, Lorna’s life journey has been intertwined with the landscapes of Mt. Liebig, Haasts Bluff, and Papunya. Lorna’s canvases are alive with depictions of the sand lines sculpted by the wind, the ochre outcrops that punctuate the terrain, and the interplay of intense sunlight against the lush desert oaks. Her pieces often portray the significance of rocks and water holes as sites where women gather for ceremonial practices and sustenance, preserving the cultural heritage of her people. This painting depicts the site of Warren Creek, just to the west of the Mt Liebig Community. This is the artist’s grandfather’s country. In the Dreaming narrative, a women traveling by herself stopped at this site and rested beside the rockhole. While at the site she gathered the bush foods kampurarrpa (desert raisin) and yala (bush potato).

82

|

COOEE ART


87 LINDA SYDDICK NAPALTJARRI (1941 - 2021) EMU ANCESTOR & WALUKIRRITJI ROCKHOLE SITE, 2000

56 x 62 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $800 - 1,200

PROVENANCE Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. LS0010068 Private Collection, SA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW May 2005, Lot No. 170 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic As a young child Linda Syddick Napaltjarri walked into the settlement at Mt Liebig in 1945. Her second father, Shorty Langkata was the owner of many Dreaming stories, and a founder of the painting movement. Just before Shorty Lankata died in 1985 he told Linda that she was to carry on his work and to continue to paint his Tjukurrpa or Dreamings. So in 1986 Linda Syddick Napaltjarri was taught to paint by her two Uncles Uta Uta Tjangala and Nosepeg Tjupurrula, both significant figures in the Papunya Desert art movement.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

83


88 JACK COOK JANGALA (1935 - ) EMU DREAMING, 2000

152 x 87 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $1,000 - 2,000

84

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Yuelamu Artists, NT Private Collection, SA Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 121 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the original gallery documentation Jack’s ancestral homeland lies in Ngarliyikurlangu, stretching to the west and northwest of the Aboriginal community of Yuendumu. When he began painting in 1985, his primary themes included Emu, Honey Ant, Water Snake, and Turkey Dreamings. His artworks are renowned for visually striking effects through a a masterful use of traditional colours, impeccably executed designs, and intricate dot work.


89 ROSELLA NAMOK (1979 - ) OLD GIRLS...THEY TALK IN THE SAND...YARN FOR THAT FAMILY AND COUNTRY, 2004

180.5 x 45.5 cm (each); 180.5 x 91 cm (total) synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $2,000 - 4,000 PROVENANCE Hogarth Galleries, NSW Cat No. RNC20040336/1,2 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2013, Lot No. 299 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Rosella Namok’s paintings reflect her personal response to the environment, cultural values, and traditional stories of the Lockhart River community on the east coast of Cape York in Far North Queensland. The culture and stories of which Namok paints revolve loosely around her social and physical or natural environment featuring events such as hunting and fishing expeditions, weather patterns of rain and wind, or the stories of Kapay and Kuyan, the two opposing moieties that govern marriage relations in Namok’s Ungkum community. Also apparent in Namok’s work are themes relating to traditional knowledge of country including kinship relations as well as tribal law as it affects both the individual and their community. INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

85


90 LORNA FENCER NAPARRULA (c.1920 - 2006 ) BUSH TOMATO DREAMING, 2001

174 x 119 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $3,000 - 4,000

PROVENANCE Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, NT Cat No. CNO1/1251 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, September 2008, Lot No. 292 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Born at Yarltu Yarltu near the Granites in the Tanami Desert, Warlpiri artist Lorna Napurrula Fencer emerged as a painter of repute in the early 1990s.. Due principally to her highly charged colour field paintings and wildly gestural style she came to be considered the Warlpiri equivalent of her, more famous, Eastern Anmatierre counterpart Emily Kame Kngwarreye. They shared many Dreamings, most notably, the yam or bush potato which dominated the artworks of both artists. Bush potatoes grow as roots underground, so the women must use digging sticks to find them.The meandering lines in the centre of this work represent the root system of the bush potato plant.

86

|

COOEE ART


91 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016 ) MINA MINA, 2006

92 x 46 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $1,500 - 2,000

PROVENANCE Warlukurlangu Arts, NT Cat No. 552/06 Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 346 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Judy Watson grew up in the vast Warlpiri country that lies between the Tanami and Gibson deserts. At Mina Mina, ancestral women danced and performed ceremonies and anointed hair string with red ochre. This is a secret and sacred connection between the women’s ceremony and the country, which enables them to connect with the spirit of the Dreaming. In this work, the rippling surface, painted in the artist’s distinct ‘dragged’ dotting style mimics the dance of her ancestors across the country during its creation.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

87


92 MOLLY PWERLE (c. 1919 -) ALDAPPA DANCE LINES, 2005 182 x 122 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $2,000 - 3,000 PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat No. AGOD11566 Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2008, Lot No. 218 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from the Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings and 5 working photos In this work, Molly Pwerle has painted a series of lines in different widths, patterns and colours The explosive, colourful and energetic patterns represent the designs painted on women’s bodies during bush tucker ceremonies in Atnwengerrp.

93 GLORIA PETYARRE (1942 - 2021) BODY PAINT, c.1999

90 x 60 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $150 -300 PROVENANCE The Original Aboriginal Art Company, NT Cat No. TOOAC5482 Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, August 2005, Lot No.183 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Raised in a remote part of the Eastern Desert and initiated into Anmatyerre law and traditions, Gloria Petyarre participated in the first art programs organised at Utopia in 1977 when she was 35 years of age. These early batik-making workshops marked the emergence of Aboriginal women artists as a force in the desert painting movement. 88

|

COOEE ART


94 GLORIA PETYARRE (1942 - 2021) Bush Medicine Leaves, 2006

102 x 91 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $800 - 1,200

PROVENANCE Muk Muk Aboriginal Art, NT Galleries Direct, NSW Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, February 2011, Lot No. 244 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from Galleries Direct This highly accomplished work represents the leaves of the Kurrajong tree, used in the Utopia region to treat a variety of ailments. The women collect the leaves, then dry and mix them with Kangaroo fat in order to extract the plant’s medicinal qualities.The significance of the Kurrajong tree and the part it plays in healing is celebrated in the women’s Awelye ceremonies.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

89


95 ROSELLA NAMOK (1979 - ) LOAD UP AKUL FOR ROAST ON FIRE, 2008

85 x 126 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $1,000 - 2,000

90

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Hogarth Galleries, NSW Cat No. RN20080425 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Rosella Namok’s work incorporates themes relating to traditional knowledge of country including kinship relations as well as tribal law and the local environment as it affects both the individual and their community. Her paintings revolve loosely around her social and physical or natural environment featuring events such as hunting and fishing expeditions, weather patterns of rain and wind, or the stories of Kapay and Kuyan, the two opposing moieties that govern marriage relations in Namok’s Ungkum community.


96 MOLLY NAPALTJARRI JUGADAI (1954 - 2011) WALKING COUNTRY: LAKE MCDONALD, 2004

151.5 x 122 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $4,000 - 5,000

PROVENANCE Tingari Arts, NT Cat No. TMNJ402 Private Collection, NT Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2006, Lot No. 220 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Maluya Jugadai, known as Molly, was born in 1954 west of Haasts Bluff community. As the eldest daughter of Narputta Nangala, she played a significant role in establishing the Ikuntji Art Centre in 1992. Her paintings depict Kaarkurutintya, a vast salt lake encircled by sand hills, also known as Lake MacDonald. Her works primarily depict it during the dry season but occasionally capture its appearance after heavy rainfall.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

91


97 LORNA FENCER NAPARRULA (c.1920 - 2006) LUJU (CATERPILLAR) DREAMING, 2002

125.5 x 173 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $4,000 - 7,000

92

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat No. AGOD9006 Menzies, Sydney, NSW, March 2010, Lot No. 173 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by the certificate of authenticity from the Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings and 4 photographs of the artist creating the work Born at Yarltu Yarltu near the Granites in the Tanami Desert, Warlpiri artist Lorna Napurrula Fencer emerged as a painter of repute in the early 1990s. Bush potatoes grow as roots underground, so the women must use digging sticks to find them.The meandering lines in the centre of this work represent the root system of the bush potato plant. The lines surrounding the plan are digging sticks and the circle at the top is the place where the women dig to retrieve the wild yams which are excellent bush tucker.


98 JUDY WATSON NAPANGARDI (c.1925 - 2016) MINA MINA, 2006

92 x 46 cm synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

EST $1,500 - 2,500

PROVENANCE Warlukurlangu Arts, NT Cat No. 246/06 Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 276 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic At Mina Mina, these ancestral women danced and performed ceremonies before travelling to Janyinki and other sites as they moved east toward Alcoota. During their ritual dancing, digging sticks rose up out of the ground and the women carried these implements with them on their long journey east singing and dancing all the way, with no sleep. The hairstring is anointed with red ochre and is a secret and sacred connection between the women’s ceremony and the country, which enables them to connect with the spirit of the Dreaming. In this work, the rippling surface, painted in the artist’s distinct ‘dragged’ dotting style mimics the dance of her ancestors across the country during its creation.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

93


99 LORNA FENCER NAPARRULA (c.1920 - 2006) BUSH POTATO DREAMING, 1999

122 x 125 cm synthetic polymer paint on canvas

EST $2,000 - 3,000

94

|

COOEE ART

PROVENANCE Katherine Art Gallery, NT Private Collection, Qld. Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 289 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a photograph of the artist with the work Bush potatoes grow as roots underground, so the women must use digging sticks to find them.The meandering lines in the centre of this work represent the root system of the bush potato plant. The lines surrounding the plan are digging sticks and the circle at the top is the place where the women dig to retrieve the wild yams which are excellent bush tucker.


100 WALALA TJAPALTJARRI (1960 - ) TINGARI, 2002

76 x 56.5 cm; 86.5 x 66 (framed) synthetic polymer paint on paper

EST $800 - 1,500 PROVENANCE Commissioned by Bonegilla Glass Studio, Bosca Galleries, Vic Cat No. BG/WT0205 Private Collection, Vic Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, November 2007, Lot No. 236 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate from Bosca Galleries Walala Tjapaltjarri, brother of well-known painters Warlimpirrnga and Thomas Tjapaltjarri, was born in the Gibson Desert east of Kiwirrkurra in the early 1960s. Having developed his style during the early 1990s, Walala produced a work on canvas in 1997 that was unlike anything he had done before. Strongly gestural and boldly graphic, it featured roundels, rectangles,and abutting lines set against a stark monochrome (often black or white) background.This distinctive and individual style laid the foundation for the remarkable body of work that he has completed since that time.

101 FREDDIE TIMMS (1946 - 2017) Lissadell Station, ed 7/25, 1996

41 x 61 cm; 71 x 81 cm (framed) serigraph on Arches paper

EST $250 - 500 PROVENANCE Private Collection, NSW Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, NSW, May 2005, Lot No.148 Menzies Estate Collection, Vic Freddie Timms artworks are maps of his country imbued with its history and spiritual connections. They are typified by expanses of flat colour delineated by white dotting, according to topography and geology. Included are the black soil country, hills, creeks, watercourses and waterholes, roads, stockyards, homesteads and Dreaming places of his travels. INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

95


Do you need a professional Art Consultant? with more than 40 members nationwide we have a consultant who can help you The Art Consulting Association of Australia (ACAA) is a professional industry association linking art consultants nationally and providing information and links for individuals, business and government seeking the services of a consultant. The purpose of the association is to represent, promote and further the interests of art consulting as a professional endeavour in Australia.

Discover more about the services that our consultants can provide at acaa.org.au 96

|

COOEE ART


oceanicartsociety.org.au The aim of the Oceanic Art Society is to further the understanding and appreciation of Oceanic art. The focus is on the traditional art, including contemporary art, of the indigenous peoples of Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia. The Oceanic Art Society holds regular presentations and streamed seminars throughout the year, publishes a quarterly journal, organises two- or three-day Forums and holds the Sydney Oceanic Art Fair each year. The Society welcomes anyone with an interest in Oceanic art. Our membership is international and includes enthusiasts, beginners, collectors, academics, artists, students, art dealers and museum professionals. For more information and how to become a member please visit our website.

Oceanic Art Society

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

97


PROUDLY SPONSORED BY MUNDA WINES Ancient soils, ancient culture. 98

|

COOEE ART


INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

99


BUYING FROM COOEE ART AUCTIONS PRE-SALE ESTIMATES The price range listed against each lot reflects the opinion of the art specialists as to what they expect the hammer price each artwork may achieve and is informed by realised prices for comparable artworks in the secondary market. These estimates are intended as a guide only and may sell outside of these ranges. Pre-sale estimates do not include buyer’s premium or other charges where applicable.

RESERVES The reserve is the minimum price that the vendor will accept for each lot and the lot can not be normally sold lower than this amount. This information is not provided to prospective buyers.

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY & PROVENANCE Each artwork will be listed with the known provenance or history of ownership. Non disclosure may indicate that the prior history and provenance was unknown to Cooee Art. All artworks sold through the Cooee Art auctions come with a certificate of authenticity from our auction house. We do endeavour to track down the original certificates from the sellers of the artworks prior to the sale, however, these are sometimes misplaced and are no longer available.

BUYERS TERMS & CONDITIONS For the full terms and conditions, please visit www.cooeeart.com.au/buy-and-sell/buying-from-a-cooeeart-auction/

COPYRIGHT The copyright of the artworks listed in this catalogue belong to the artist or their estate and used under licence by Cooee Art. The buyer must not reproduce or otherwise use the images or text without prior written consent. Cooee Art has paid the cost of copyright via the Copyright Agency, 2022.

RESALE ROYALTY Some lots consigned for this auction may be subject to the Resale Royalty for Visual Artists Act 2009. Any payments due under the obligations of the Act will be paid by the vendor. 100 |

COOEE ART

-

T H E

A U C T I O N

-

REGISTRATION Prospective buyers must register to bid prior to the auction.

BIDDING There are five ways to bid at a Cooee Art auctions In person – Our auctions are open to the public and held at our premises at 17 Thurlow Street, Redfern. We welcome your attendance if you are in Sydney. Online – Whether you are just a suburb away or halfway around the world you can bid for all Cooee Art lots in the comfort of your home or office, live and in real-time on our dedicated auction website at auction.cooeeart.com.au or on Invaluable. Absentee – For those who prefer not to attend the auction in person or bid online, you can leave an Absentee bid with us by filling in the form found at the back of this catalogue, or whilst at the viewing in our Showroom. By leaving your maximum bid on any lot, the Auctioneer will bid on your behalf up to, but not above, this amount. If the other bidder(s) drop out before your highest bid, you will win the work for the next bidding increment, which may be less than your maximum bid. Absentee on the website - Here you can leave a bid online for any lot right up until the auction starts at 7pm.You will be notified if someone outbids you before the auction. If you are outbid by someone in the room or on the phones during the auction, you will miss out. A good strategy is to leave the highest bid you are willing to buy the artwork for and the computer will keep bidding on your behalf up to that amount.Your maximum amount is confidential, so you may win the lot for a much lower amount. Telephone - By using this option, you can bid on any lot from the comfort of your home, anywhere in the world. You will be called 2 - 3 lots before your selected lot comes up and one of our staff will act on your behalf, being your eyes, ears, and spokesperson for the evening. It is also advisable to leave a Cover Bid (which acts the same way as an Absentee Bid) so that if we are unable to reach you on the night, the person calling can then step in and bid for you up to your Cover Bid amount.


BIDDING INCREMENTS

COLLECTIONS, TRANSPORTATION & SHIPPING

Bidding typically opens below the listed pre-sale estimate and proceeds in the following increments (however it is at the discretion of the auctioneer, and may vary)

All collection notifications, shipping options, and requests for carrier recommendations are to be emailed to our Auction Administration email address auction@cooeeart. com.au. Cooee Art will endeavour to supply you with the best and most cost effective option for shipping your artwork to you, but you are not obliged to use this service and may organise your own transport options. Please inform us as soon as possible of your preferred method. Proof of identification is required upon collection. Lots not collected within 7 days of the sale may incur costs associated with external storage and freight. Should you request that Cooee Art wrap and/or pack your goods and arrange postage of your items for you, a fee will apply, and whilst all care is taken, we accept no responsibility for any damage.

Between $0 $1,000 $2,000 $5,000 $10,000 $20,000 $50,000 $100,000 $200,000 $500,000 $1,000,000

and $1,000 $2,000 $5,000 $10,000 $20,000 $50,000 $100,000 $200,000 $500,000 $1,000,000 and over

Increments of by $50 by $100 by $200 by $500 by $1000 by $2,000 by $5,000 by $10,000 by $20,000 by $50,000 by $100,000

BUYER’S PREMIUM A buyer’s premium of 25% (including GST) is added to the hammer price of each lot.The hammer price is the last bid that is accepted by the auctioneer.

SUCCESSFUL BIDS The fall of the auctioneer’s hammer indicates the bid has been accepted and the work is sold, the buyer assumes full responsibility for the lot from this time.

-

A F TER

T H E

AU C T I O N

-

PAYMENTS The day after the sale, the Post-Sale team will send you an Invoice. The final amount due will include the hammer price, the 25% buyer’s premium, and the service fee charged by Invaluable if you are using their services. Electronic Bank Transfer is the simplest payment method and your invoice will include our bank details. A 2% surcharge applies to Visa, MasterCard, and AMEX payments. Alternatively, payment may be made by cheque, cash or eftpos. Please note: payments made by cheque are subject to a 5-day clearance before goods can be collected.

GOODS AND SERVICES TAX If buyer is an Australian resident, a 10% GST is included in the following instances a.In the final hammer price when buying from a GST registered vendor b. When additional fees are required i.e. shipping c. Buyers Premium INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II 101


ATTENDEE PRE-REGISTRATION FORM SALE NO.: 14 THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

(Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss) Name (please print)

Business name

5 MARCH 2024, 7:00PM AEST LOTS 1 - 101 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016

Address City

State

Telephone/Mobile

Email

Postcode

please email or post this completed form to: COOEE ART 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016 tel: +61 (02) 9300 9533 auction@cooeeart.com.au

CATALOGUE SUBSCRIPTION FORM Indigenous Fine Art Auction Catalogue (single issue) $35*

*price includes G.S.T. postage and handling. Additional $10 per catalogue for international orders

Tax invoice required

(Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss) Name (please print)

please email or post this completed form to:

Business name

COOEE ART 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016

Address

tel: +61 (02) 9300 9533 auction@cooeeart.com.au

City

State

Telephone/Mobile

Email

Subscription payment by:

Visa

Postcode

AMEX

Country

Mastercard

Name on card

Card number

Expiry date

Signature

Date

102 |

COOEE ART

CCV


TELEPHONE BID FORM SALE NO.: 14 THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II

(Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss) Name (please print)

Billing adress (PO Box insufficient)

5 MARCH 2024, 7:00PM AEST LOTS 1 - 101 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016

Address

City

State

Postcode

Country

2. 1. Telephone numbers for auction in order of preference

COOEE ART 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016

Email

Signature (required)

LOT NO.

tel: +61 (02) 9300 9533 auction@cooeeart.com.au

Date

ARTIST/TITLE

please email or post this completed form to:

COVER BID*

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 *Not including buyer’s premium or GST (where applicable). bids are made in Australian dollars. Telephone bids must be received a minimum of twenty-four hours prior to auction. All telephone bids received will be confirmed by phone or email. In the event that confirmation is not received, please resubmit or contact our office. Please refer to the Buyers Terms & Conditions of Auction found at www.cooeeart.com.au/buying-from-acooee-art-auctions for information regarding sales. By completing this form, I authorise COOEE ART to contact me by telephone on the contact number(s) nominated. I understand it is my responsibility to enquire whether any Sale-Room Notices relate to any lot on which I intend to bid. I also understand that should my bid(s) be successful, a buyer’s premium of 25% (inclusive of GST), will be added to the final hammer price. I accept that COOEE ART provides this complimentary service as a courtesy to its clients, that there are inherent risks to telephone bidding, and I will not hold COOEE ART responsible for any error. A member of the Cooee Art team will contact you a few minutes before your indicated desired lots.The Cover Bid Price will be used should a member of staff not be able to reach you. Should your final bid be successful, you will be obliged to pay the final bid price plus buyer’s premium of 25% (incl of GST) of the final bid amount.

INTERNAL USE ONLY RECEIVED BY DATE TIME BIDDER NO.

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II 103


ABSENTEE BID FORM SALE NO.: 14 THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE | INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART 1I

(Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss) Name (please print)

Billing adress (PO Box insufficient)

5 MARCH 2024, 7:00PM AEST LOTS 1 - 101 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016

Address

City

State

Postcode

Country

Telephone/Mobile

COOEE ART 17 THURLOW STREET REDFERN NSW 2016

Email

Signature (required)

LOT NO.

please email or post this completed form to:

tel: +61 (02) 9300 9533 auction@cooeeart.com.au

Date

ARTIST/TITLE

MAXIMUM BID*

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 *Not including buyer’s premium or GST (where applicable). bids are made in Australian dollars. Absentee bids must be received by 2pm the pay of the auction. All absentee bids received will be confirmed by phone or email. In the event that confirmation is not received, please resubmit or contact our office. Please refer to the Buyers Terms & Conditions of Auction found at www.cooeeart.com.au/buying-from-acooee-art-auctions for information regarding sales. By completing this form, absentee bidders request and authorise COOEE ART to place the following bids acting as agent on their behalf up to and including the maximum bid specified. Lots will be bought at the lowest possible bid authorised by the bidder in absentia. I understand it is my responsibility to enquire whether any Sale-Room Notices relate to any lot on which I intend to bid. I also understand that should my bid(s) be successful, a buyer’s premium of 25% (inclusive of GST), will be added to the final hammer price. COOEE ART provides this complimentary service as a courtesy to clients and does not accept liability for errors and omissions in the execution of absentee bids. Should your bid be successful, you will be obliged to pay the final bid price plus buyer’s premium of 25% (incl of GST) of the final bid price. 104 |

COOEE ART

INTERNAL USE ONLY RECEIVED BY DATE TIME BIDDER NO.


COPYRIGHT 1 © John Mawurndjul / Copyright Agency, 2024 2 © Ignatia Djanghara / Copyright Agency, 2024 3 © Kitty Kantilla (Kutuwulumi Purawarrumpatu) / Copyright Agency, 2024 4 © Kitty Kantilla (Kutuwulumi Purawarrumpatu) / Copyright Agency, 2024 5 © Declan Apuatimi / Copyright Agency, 2024 6 © Ivan Namirriki / Copyright Agency, 2024 7 © Gloria Fletcher Thancoupie / Copyright Agency, 2024 8 © Clara Ngala Inkamala / Copyright Agency, 2024 9 © Albert Namatjira / Copyright Agency, 2024 10 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 11 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 12 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 13 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 14 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 15 © Dick Nguleingulei / Copyright Agency, 2024 18 © Robyn Nganjmira / Copyright Agency, 2024 20 © Peter Datjin Burarrwanga / Copyright Agency, 2024 21 © Buranday Waynbarrnga / Copyright Agency, 2024 23 © Old Mick Walankari Tjakamarra / Copyright Agency, 2024 24 © Ray Inkamala Tjampitjinpa / Copyright Agency, 2024 26 © Paddy Fordham Wainburranga / Copyright Agency, 2024 27 © Banapana Maymuru / Copyright Agency, 2024 28 © Jimmy Galereya / Copyright Agency, 2024 29 © Jack Maranbarra / Copyright Agency, 2024 30 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 31 © Emily Kame Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 32 © Dorothy Robinson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 33 © Ronnie Tjampitjinpa / Copyright Agency, 2024 34 © Maggie Watson Napangardi /Copyright Agency, 2024 35 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 36 © Rover Joolama Thomas / Copyright Agency, 2024 37 © Jack Dale / Copyright Agency, 2024 38 © Churchill Yoonany Cann / Copyright Agency, 2024 39 © Beerbee Joongoorra Mungnari / Copyright Agency, 2024 40 © Kudditji Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 41 © Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula /Copyright Agency, 2024 42 © Greeny Purvis Petyarre / Copyright Agency, 2024 43 © George Hairbrush Tjungurrayi / Copyright Agency, 2024 44 © Ningura Gibson Napurrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 45 © Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 46 © Jack Dale / Copyright Agency, 2024 47 © Rover Joolama Thomas / Copyright Agency, 2024 48 © Rover Joolama Thomas / Copyright Agency, 2024 49 © Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 50 © Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 51 © George Ward Tjungurrayi / Copyright Agency, 2024 52 © Ronnie Tjampitjinpa / Copyright Agency, 2024 53 © Rover Joolama Thomas / Copyright Agency, 2024 54 © Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 55 © George (Hairbrush) Tjungurrayi / Copyright Agency, 2024 56 © Ningura Gibson Napurrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 57 © Mick Namarari Tjapultjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 58 © Naata Nungurrayi / Copyright Agency, 2024 59 © Minnie Pwerle / Copyright Agency, 2024

60 © Kudditji Kngwarreye / Copyright Agency, 2024 61 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 62 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 63 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 64 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 65 © Lindsay Bird Mpetyane / Copyright Agency, 2024 66 © Ronnie Tjampitjinpa / Copyright Agency, 2024 67 © Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 68 © Rover Joolama Thomas / Copyright Agency, 2024 69 © Arone Meeks / Copyright Agency, 2024 81 © Judy Watson / Copyright Agency, 2024 83 © Lorna Brown Napanangka / Copyright Agency, 2024 84 © Elizabeth Marks Nakamarra / Copyright Agency, 2024 85 © Ray James Tjangala / Copyright Agency, 2024 86 © Lorna Brown Napanangka / Copyright Agency, 2024 87 © Linda Syddick Napaltjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 88 © Jack Cook Jangala / Copyright Agency, 2024 90 © Lorna Fencer Naparrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 91 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 92 © Molly Pwerle / Copyright Agency, 2024 93 © Gloria Petyarre / Copyright Agency, 2024 94 © Gloria Petyarre / Copyright Agency, 2024 96 © Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 97 © Lorna Fencer Naparrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 98 © Judy Watson Napangardi / Copyright Agency, 2024 99 © Lorna Fencer Naparrula / Copyright Agency, 2024 100 © Walala Tjapaltjarri / Copyright Agency, 2024 101 © Freddie Timms / Copyright Agency, 2024

INDIGENOUS FINE ART AUCTION | THE ROD MENZIES ESTATE INDIGENOUS ART COLLECTION PART II 105


COOEE ART 17 Thurlow Street Redfern NSW 2016 +61 (02) 9300 9533 auction@cooeeart.com.au www.cooeeart.com.au @cooeeart # #cooeeart

106 |

COOEE ART


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.