Saturday, June 19, 2021

Aboriginal Art - Part II[1]
Bark Paintings

Marie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts on Australian aboriginal textiles and artwork.
Untitled Artworks (Exhibition - ArtCloth: Engaging New Visions) Tjariya (Nungalka) Stanley and Tjunkaya Tapaya, Ernabella Arts (Australia)
ArtCloth from the Tiwi Islands
Aboriginal Batik From Central Australia
ArtCloth from Utopia
Aboriginal Art Appropriated by Non-Aboriginal Artists
ArtCloth from the Women of Ernabella
ArtCloth From Kaltjiti (Fregon)
Australian Aboriginal Silk Paintings
Contemporary Aboriginal Prints
Batiks from Kintore
Batiks From Warlpiri (Yuendumu)
Aboriginal Batiks From Northern Queensland
Artworks From Remote Aboriginal Communities
Urban Aboriginal ArtCloths
Western Australian Aboriginal Fabric Lengths
Northern Editions - Aboriginal Prints
Aboriginal Bark Paintings
Contemporary Aboriginal Posters (1984) - (1993)
The Art of Arthur Pambegan Jr
Aboriginal Art - Colour Power
Aboriginal Art - Part I
Aboriginal Art - Part II
The Art of Ngarra
The Paintings of Patrick Tjungurrayi
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri


Aboriginal Art - Part II[1]
The art of Aboriginal Australia is the last great tradition of art to be appreciated by the world at large. Despite being one of the longest continuous traditions of art in the world, dating back at least fifty millennia, it remained relatively unknown until the second half of the twentieth century.

Rock painting, Kakadu, Northern Territory, Australia.

The Surrealist map of the world, published in 1929 by the Parisian avant-garde, depicted the size of each country proportionate to the degree of artistic creativity, with the recently discovered riches of the Pacific islands looming large. Australia barely featured.

Note: Even New Zealand has a bigger footprint than Australia.

Art is central to Aboriginal life. Whether it is made for political, social, utilitarian or didactic purposes,and these functions constantly overlap - art is inherently connected to the spiritual domain.

Rock engraving, ca. 500 AD, Mount Camerson West, Tasmania.

The earliest surviving bark paintings date from the nineteenth century, an example of which is a bark etching of a kangaroo hunt now in the British Museum, which was collected near Boort in northern Victoria by the British explorer John Hunter Kerr.

Bark painting housed in the British Museum.

The modern form of bark paintings first appeared in the 1930s, when missionaries at Yirrkala and Milingimbi asked the local Yolngu people to produce bark paintings that could be sold in the cities of New South Wales and Victoria. The motives of the missionaries were to earn money that would help pay for the mission, and also to educate white Australians about Yolngu culture. As the trade grew, and the demand for paintings increased, leading artists such as Narritjin Maymuru started being asked to mount exhibitions.

Mission at Yirrkala.

It was not until the 1980s that bark paintings started being regarded as fine-art, as opposed to an interesting indigenous handicraft, and commanded high prices accordingly on the international art markets. Nowadays, the value of a fine bark painting depends not only on the skill and fame of the artist, and on the quality of the art itself, but also on the degree to which the artwork encapsulates the culture by telling a traditional story.

Bolda Hunter Bim - Barramundi.


Aboriginal Art - Part II[1]
Author, Title of Work: Djawida, Nawura, Dreamtime Ancestor Spirit (1985).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 156 x 68 cm.
Collection: National Gallery of Australia.

Author, Title of Work: John Mawurndjul, Rainbow Serpent's Antilopine Kangeroo (1991).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 189 x 94 cm.
Collection: National Gallery of Australia.

Author, Title of Work: Mick Kubarkku, Dird (1991).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 196.5 x 74 cm.
Collection: National Gallery of Australia.

Author, Title of Work: Jack Kala Kala, Balangu, Two Sharks (1986).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 130 x 60 cm.
Collection: National Gallery of Australia.

Author, Title of Work: Les Mirrikkuriya, Digging Sticks and Sacred Dilly Bay at Ginajangga (1988).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 152 x 93.8 cm.
Collection: Art Gallery, South Australia. Maude Vizard-Holohahn Art Prize Purchase Award (1988).

Author, Title of Work: Tjam (Sam) Yikari Kitani, Wagilag (1937).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 126.5 x 68.5 cm.
Collection: Museum of Victoria, Donald Thomson Collection (1988).

Author, Title of Work: Dawidi Djulwarka, Wagilag Religious Story (1965).
Materials and Techniques: Natural pigments on bark.
Size: 84 x 46.5 cm.
Collection: Private Collection.


Reference:
[1] Caruana, Aboriginal Art, Thames & Hudson, 3rd Edition, London (2012).

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