UTA UTA TJANGALA

Despite the success of many of Uta Uta Tjangala’s late career works 9 out of his 10 highest results are for paintings created during 1971 and 1972. This is rare in as much as many of the early Papunya artists painted works in the first year of the movement that have failed to ignite collectors interest and their highest results are for works that were executed during the two years following 1971. His record price was set for a painting that was offered with a four-page certificate prepared by Bardon. Women’s Dreaming 1972 is a 60 x 45 cm. board that sold for $103,312 at Sotheby’s in July 2003 (Lot 108). This eclipsed the $81,750 that was paid for a 78 x 30 cm., untitled, 1972 board sold in Sotheby’s two years earlier.

Works painted in 1971 have been by far the most successful in terms of sales rate with 9 out of the 10 works offered selling. However the average price for these, his earliest works, is only $29,240 and the highest price ever paid for a1971 painting is just $66,300. While just 14 paintings created in 1972 have sold out of the 20 offered the average price paid has been far higher than for earlier works at $43,347 and this is consistent with results for others amongst the founding group of desert painters. Both the artist’s record and second highest prices were set for works from this period. Boards created during the following years have fared far worse. Only 1 in 4 paintings produced during 1973 to 1974 have sold and 1 in 2 for 1975 and 1976 works. The average prices achieved for these paintings drops from $22,800 to just $2,185 for works created in each of the four years from 1973 to 1976. It is not until the artist began producing larger works on canvas for Papunya Tula during the early 1980’s that the auction prices paid for Uta Uta’s paintings increase dramatically. The highest price paid for a 1980’s work was the $30,550 achieved by Christies in August 2001 when they sold Men's and Women's Dreaming at Wilkinkarra, a Papunya Tula provenanced work carrying a presale estimate of $18,000-25,000. This is currently the artist’s 16th highest record.

Clearly, Uta Uta’s 1971-2 paintings are the most collectable with a premium likely for works with Geoffrey Bardon documentation. Very few have come up for resale other than those that failed to sell when first offered. The rare exception was an excellent 45.5 x 40.5 cm. 1972 board Untitled (Two Boys Dreaming) that was passed in at Sotheby’s in July 2006 with a more than reasonable estimate of $40,000-$60,000K given the $27,600 it had achieved at Sotheby’s in 1999. Another work however, Medicine Story 1971 doubled in value in just 3 years when sold for $22,800 by Sotheby’s in July 2003 (Lot 169) and when offered once more in 2005 trippled in value to $66,300 when estimated at $20,000-30,000 becoming the artists 3rd highest result to date. This is in line with the increasing fortunes of good paintings by this artist. In 2007-2008, 9 of the 10 paintings on offer sold, lifting his career clearance rate and average price against a downward trend in the market..

As with a number of the early Papunya painters, Uta Uta is remembered for his important place in the genesis of western desert painting. Apart from his early works, and the odd larger canvas produced late in life, his greatest legacy is the movement itself and his many descendants and relatives who have expanded the movement he and his small band of male companions began to horizons far beyond anything they themselves could have imagined.

© Adrian Newstead