Gurrumatji (Magpie Geese), c.1990

156 x 64 cm

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Provenance: Private Collection Lawson Menzies Auction Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Cat No. 412 Private Collection, Albany NY A copy of a first-person biography written by the artist in 1987 accompanies the painting
Artwork story: George Milpurrurru (Ganalbingu, Yirritja moiety) was raised on his father’s country at Ngaljindi on the Glyde River floodplain. Taught by senior relatives, he forged a graphic style that balances large areas of flat colour with crisp rarrk (cross-hatching), a synthesis of Western and Eastern Arnhem Land aesthetics. He was the first Aboriginal artist to be honoured with a solo retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. In Gurrumatji (Magpie Geese), the column of blackbodied geese ancestral beings for Ganalbingu clans— moves through a field of tightly patterned rarrk that evokes the sedge-choked wetlands of the Arafura Swamp. The repeated silhouettes, reeds and spears of rarrk mark seasonal plenty at the end of the Wet and assert the artist’s custodial ties to the country and its totems. The work is a clear statement of identity and authority, delivered with Milpurrurru’s trademark clarity and rhythm.

Click to enlarge

Sale 2 · Lot 40

George Milpurrurru

1934 – 1998

156 x 64 cm

Est. $4,000 – $6,000

Provenance: Private Collection Lawson Menzies Auction Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Cat No. 412 Private Collection, Albany NY A copy of a first-person biography written by the artist in 1987 accompanies the painting
Artwork story: George Milpurrurru (Ganalbingu, Yirritja moiety) was raised on his father’s country at Ngaljindi on the Glyde River floodplain. Taught by senior relatives, he forged a graphic style that balances large areas of flat colour with crisp rarrk (cross-hatching), a synthesis of Western and Eastern Arnhem Land aesthetics. He was the first Aboriginal artist to be honoured with a solo retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. In Gurrumatji (Magpie Geese), the column of blackbodied geese ancestral beings for Ganalbingu clans— moves through a field of tightly patterned rarrk that evokes the sedge-choked wetlands of the Arafura Swamp. The repeated silhouettes, reeds and spears of rarrk mark seasonal plenty at the end of the Wet and assert the artist’s custodial ties to the country and its totems. The work is a clear statement of identity and authority, delivered with Milpurrurru’s trademark clarity and rhythm.