Yumari, 1979

natural earth pigment on composition board

61 x 45.5 cm, 63.5 x 48 cm frame

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Hammer $6,500

Provenance: Papunya Tula, NT, Cat No. UU790419 Bob Durnan Collection* Private Collection, NSW *Bob Durnan worked with Fred Hollows on indigenous eye health in Alice Springs and several indigenous desert communities before becoming the CEO of the Tangentyere housing company.
Artwork story: Uta Uta was a founding member of the painting men and became one of the most senior and influential painters amongst the group. His influence is credited with enabling the group to break through the political and cultural constraints towards a safe stylistic conformity, thereby preparing the way for personal and distinctive styles to emerge amongst the Papunya men. Despite his advancing age during the late 1970s, he continued to paint as he spent increasing time at outstations west of Papunya and, at the beginning of the 1980s, he completed what was to become one of the most important and revered works of the entire Western Desert art movement, Yumari, 1981 - possibly the largest and most significant Tingari painting ever created. Yumari is a rocky outcrop in his home country and the key ceremonial site of the area.

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Sale 1 · Lot 1

c.1926 – 1990

natural earth pigment on composition board

61 x 45.5 cm, 63.5 x 48 cm frame

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Hammer $6,500

Provenance: Papunya Tula, NT, Cat No. UU790419 Bob Durnan Collection* Private Collection, NSW *Bob Durnan worked with Fred Hollows on indigenous eye health in Alice Springs and several indigenous desert communities before becoming the CEO of the Tangentyere housing company.
Artwork story: Uta Uta was a founding member of the painting men and became one of the most senior and influential painters amongst the group. His influence is credited with enabling the group to break through the political and cultural constraints towards a safe stylistic conformity, thereby preparing the way for personal and distinctive styles to emerge amongst the Papunya men. Despite his advancing age during the late 1970s, he continued to paint as he spent increasing time at outstations west of Papunya and, at the beginning of the 1980s, he completed what was to become one of the most important and revered works of the entire Western Desert art movement, Yumari, 1981 - possibly the largest and most significant Tingari painting ever created. Yumari is a rocky outcrop in his home country and the key ceremonial site of the area.