TIMMY PAYUNGKA TJAPANGATI

While undoubtedly a bold and adventurous painter who was happy to experiment stylistically Timmy Payungka could never be considered amongst the first rank of Papunya male painters. His importance lay in his role as man of great ritual knowledge who embraced the act of painting as a regenerative cultural force making it possible for others to follow his lead. Although a prolific painter, and an important member of Papunya Tula Artists during the last decade of his life, 7 of his 10 best results are for works created during his first three years as an artist. Even at this early stage, between 1971-1973, his works varied greatly in style and content.

His most successful work at auction was Cave Story 1971, a small work on composition board, which sold for $79,500 when estimated at $30,000-50,000, as long ago as 1999. The most interesting thing about it stylistically is its similarity to the linear minimalism adopted by other Pintupi men nearly twenty five years after its creation, and perhaps this was the reason for its success at Sotheby’s at the time. However for a record by such a prominent artist to have stood for more than 8 years, during what has been nothing short of phenomenal growth in the market, is a tell tale sign that something is amiss. His second highest result for instance was just under half this amount achieved by Lawson~Menzies in their November 2006 sale. This work’s interest lies more in the fact that it shows elements of the interlocking key design that became his leit motif late in his life, within the dotted patterning contained within the structure of a conventional Tingari painting of the period. The painting failed to sell on the night when offered at $35,000-45,000 but sold the next morning for $38,400. (Lot 58).

His 3rd highest result was achieved for a work that was attributed to the artist when Sotheby’s sold it in their July 2004 sale (Lot 210). The attribution is unlikely to be correct however, as the work shows far closer stylistic resonance to paintings by Yala Yala Gibbs, Shorty Lungkarta, and one or two other artists than to Payungka, other than the way in which the Kangaroo, or possibly bandicoot, is depicted. Sotheby’s relied on the word of the vendor, who had bought it directly from the artist while working as a patrol officer with the Northern Territory Administration in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Still, if it was actually created by Payungka it is, in my opinion, the best early work by him that has been offered at auction to date.

His Water Dreaming 1971-1972 was not a good work despite achieving $31,200 in July 2006 against a presale estimate of just $12,000-18,000. It did however clearly demonstrate the same elements as many of the perfunctory paintings he created for independent dealers toward the end of his life. None of these have done well at auction and most fail to make the cut.

Tingari Painting Associated with the Site of Parayirrpilnya 1986 is one of only 2 1980’s works which appear in his top 10 results and only 4 in his top 20. As generic Tingari works go, this one is surprisingly good, and better than most. When originally offered in November 1998 Sotheby’s advertised it with an estimate of $7,000-10,000 but failed to find a buyer. The work was later reoffered at Sotheby’s in July 2001 carrying an estimate of $12,000-18,000 and this seems to have done the trick. It found a buyer at $24,000.

Despite all of the results above, most collectors identify Timmy Payungka with his late career paintings in which the iconography has been discarded in favour of his immediately recongisable interlocking key design, seemingly derived from the patterning on men’s ceremonial story boards. Most commonly created in black and white, the artist created them in a variety of formulaic duo tonal formats during the mid to late 1990’s. The most successful of these has been Kangaroo and Fire Dreaming, a work created in 1997 for Papunya Tula, which sold in Sotheby's June 2002 sale (Lot 189) for $31,050. It should be a salutary reminder to collectors that this price is more than four times higher than his next best result for a 1990’s painting.

Of the 91 works by this artist at auction to date only 20 have sold for more than $5000 while 32 have sold for less, and 39 have failed to find a buyer. By far and away his best year on the secondary market was 1999 when six works were offered and all six sold for a total of $90,825 but as the years have passed since his death in 2000 his results have progressively declined. And, as the number of failures have increased, the number of works offered for sale has decreased. In 2004 no less than 24 works were offered of which 15 went unsold. Not surprising then, that in 2007 only two works were offered for sale amongst all of the auction houses taking Aboriginal art in that year. 2008 was not much better. Although the numver of works on offer increased to 8 , only 4 sold for a total of just $22,429 despite the fact that one very nice 1973 board work, Big Rain Story, snuck in to the artists top 10 results at 9th place when sold for $10,800 at Sotheby’s in October(Lot 84).

There is no question that Timmy Payungka was a seminal figure in the Western Desert art movement. He created a large body of work for just on thirty years. While many of these are fine paintings and deserve to be in exalted company, collectors should be extremely careful in selecting works that best represent the various periods of his artistic output. There is a very definite and easily read stylistic progression through the development of his art. While serious collections should definitely include his work, only the finest examples are likely to prove a sound investment in the long term.

© Adrian Newstead