Tommy Mungatopi Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Tommy Mungatopi Art Value Price Guide

Mar. 26, 2024
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI, CORAL, C.1965
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI (1923 - 1985) CORAL, c.1965 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 62.0 x 38.5 cm (irregular) PROVENANCE Painted at Bathurst or Melville Islands, Northern Territory, c.1965 Private collection Sotheby's, Melbourne, 22 - 23 November 1999, lot 406 (attributed to 'Artist Unknown') The Kelton Collection, Santa Monica, USA Private collection, Melbourne RELATED WORK Coral Design, c.1965, natural pigments on bark, 84.5 x 44.0 cm (irregular), in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Coral Reef, c.1967, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark, 71.0 x 50.0 cm, private collection, illus. in Isaacs, J., Tiwi: Art/History/Culture, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton 2012, p. 17 Coral, c.1972, earth pigment on bark, 80.0 x 30.0 cm, in the collection of Thomas Vroom, illus. in Isaacs, J., Tiwi: Art/History/Culture, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, 2012, p. 142 ESSAY Often commissioned to make Pukumani Poles for funeral ceremonies, Deaf Tommy Mungatopi was renowned for his fine attention to detail and inventive patterning. His signature style consists of a double set of webbed, slightly ovoid concentric circles, connected and infilled by delicately painted patterns of dots applied with the pwoja comb.1 As with the related works cited above, this painting on bark is an evocative interpretation of light reflecting off the coral reefs on the eastern side of Melville Island – a subject to which he returned many times. 1. Isaacs, J., Tiwi: Art/History/Culture, 2012, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, p. 142 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Deaf Tommy Mungatopi/Copyright Agency 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Jun. 23, 2020
Att. Deaf Tommy Mungatopi - Moonlight on Water
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Deaf Tommy Mungatopi was recognised among the Tiwi as an exceptional artist, regularly commissioned to make tutini or Pukumani funeral poles for ceremonies. He belonged to one of the great Tiwi art dynasties. He was the brother of two other influential Tiwi artists, Alie Miller Mungatopi (c.1910-1968) and Laurie One Eye Nelson Mungatopi (1915-1968). In the late 1970s, Deaf Tommy made five tutini for the National Gallery of Australia, forming part of a group that were installed in the Sculpture Garden for its opening to the public in 1982. Deaf Tommy had a distinctive painting style that incorporated alternating bands of dotting, applied by using a wooden comb (pwoja), and sequences of dashes, or, as in sections of this painting, linked diamonds. In his paintings, Mungatopi is able to evoke the physical atmosphere of a landscape while expressing its ancestral dimension through the repetition and variations of abstracted designs and patterns. This image relates to the story of Purukuparli, the creation ancestor of the Tiwi, who carried the dead body of his infant son Jinani into the waters off the eastern coast of Melville Island. He drowned, thus bringing death to the previously immortal Tiwi. The site abounds with coral reefs where women collect shellfish at low tide.
Cooee Art
Mar. 14, 2018
TOMMY MUNGATOPI CIRCA 1925-1985 | Coral
Est: £35,000 - £50,000
Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Sep. 05, 2017
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI (c. 1925-1985) (Coral Design) 1977 natural earth pigments on bark
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI (c. 1925-1985) (Coral Design) 1977 natural earth pigments on bark 81 x 51.5cm PROVENANCE: Gift of the artist Private collection, Queensland
Leonard Joel
Sep. 21, 2016
ATTRIBUTED TO DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI CIRCA 1925-1985 | Untitled
Est: £3,000 - £5,000
Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Jun. 10, 2015
ATTRIBUTED TO DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI CIRCA 1925-1985 | Bush Fruit and Minga (Body Paint)
Est: £10,000 - £15,000
Bears title on the reverse
Sotheby's
Jun. 05, 2012
Deaf Tommy Mungatopi circa 1925-1985 CORAL (1965) natural earth pigments on composition board
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
Deaf Tommy Mungatopi circa 1925-1985 CORAL (1965) natural earth pigments on composition board 122 X 62.2CM PROVENANCE Private Collection, Northern Territory (1965) Private Collection, Queensland The image in the painting is contemporaneous with paintings of the same subject by the artist now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. It is an evocative interpretation of light reflecting off the coral reefs on the eastern side of Melville Island where the ancestral drama of the coming of death amongst the Tiwi was played out. Here Purukuparli, the male ancestor carried his dead infant son out to sea and drowned. The coral reefs are also the domain of Tiwi women as they collect shellfish found on the reefs at low tide. (1) The artist is represented in most major public collections in Australia, including those mentioned above and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, the National Museum of Australia, Canberra and the Australian Museum, Sydney. Wally Caruana (1) Wally Caruana, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 2003, p. 93 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW SOUTH WALES
Smith & Singer
May. 28, 2012
Deaf Tommy Mungatopi (circa 1925-1985)
Est: -
Coral bears artist's name and biographical notes on a label on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 71 x 50cm
Bonhams
Jul. 20, 2009
Deaf Tommy Mungatopi circa 1925-1985 CORAL PHASES OF THE MOON natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
bears artist's name, size and catalogue number 262 in felt pen on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Jun. 21, 2009
Attributed to Deaf Tommy Mungatopi (circa
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Attributed to Deaf Tommy Mungatopi (circa 1925-1985) Pukumani Pole natural earth pigments on carved wood (raised on a stand) 240cm (height) Provenance: Private collection New Zealand. Commissioned by Jim Wallace of South Australia during the 1960s. Cf. For related example see Sotheby's Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Sydney 25 November 2007 p32 lot 37. For a related example of art work refer above p37 lot 41.
Leonard Joel
Nov. 25, 2007
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI , CIRCA 1925-1985 MOONLIGHT ON SANDBARS Natural earth pigments on eucalyptis bark
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Bears artist's name, title and descriptive notes regarding the Pukumani ceremony on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptis bark
Sotheby's
Nov. 25, 2007
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI , CIRCA 1925-1985 MOONLIGHT ON THE SEA Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Bears artist's name, size and label with descriptive notes regarding the Pukumani ceremony on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Nov. 25, 2007
ATTRIBUTED TO DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI , CIRCA 1925-1985 TUTINI (PUKUMANI POLE) Natural earth pigments on carved wood
Est: $7,000 - $10,000
Natural earth pigments on carved wood
Sotheby's
Nov. 25, 2007
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI , CIRCA 1925-1985 CORAL PHASES OF THE MOON Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
Bears artist's name, title, size and catalogue number 262 in felt pen on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Jul. 31, 2006
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI CIRCA 1925-1985
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
CORAL 1968 MEASUREMENTS 92 by 40.5 cm Bears artist's name, title, date of execution, size and catalogue number 255 in felt pen on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark PROVENANCE Private collection, Sydney Cf. For similar contemporaneous paintings by the artist in the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, see 'Moon, morning and evening stars', in Barnes, K., Kiripapurajuwi (Skills of Our Hands): Good Craftsman and Tiwi Art, Kathy Barnes, Darwin, 1999, p.43, illus.; and 'Sun shining on a coral reef', c.1970, in Crumlin, R. and A. Knight, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Dove Publications, Melbourne, 1995, p.23, plate 4, illus.; the latter work also in Holmes, S. Le Brun, The Goddess and the Moon Man: The Sacred Art of the Tiwi Aborigines, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995, p.118, illus. under the title 'Full moon reflected in the sea in the country of Purakapali' See Lot 55 for a brief description of the imagery of this work. Note the paintings of coral referred to above have black backgrounds while in this painting the background colour is white
Sotheby's
Jul. 31, 2006
DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI CIRCA 1925-1985
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
CORAL PHASES OF THE MOON C.1967 MEASUREMENTS 95 by 31 cm Bears artist's name, title, size and catalogue number 262 in felt pen on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark PROVENANCE Private collection, Sydney Cf. For similar contemporaneous paintings by the artist in the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, see 'Moon, morning and evening stars', in Barnes, K., Kiripapurajuwi (Skills of Our Hands): Good Craftsman and Tiwi Art, Kathy Barnes, Darwin, 1999, p.43, illus.; and 'Sun shining on a coral reef', c.1970, in Crumlin, R. and A. Knight, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Dove Publications, Melbourne, 1995, p.23, plate 4, illus.; the latter work also in Holmes, S. Le Brun, T he Goddess and the Moon Man: The Sacred Art of the Tiwi Aborigines, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995, p.118, illus. under the title 'Full moon reflected in the sea in the country of Purakapali' The image in the painting, as with the Northern Territory Museum paintings and contemporaneous paintings of the same subject by the artist in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, is an evocative interpretation of light reflecting off the coral reefs on the eastern side of Melville Island where the ancestral drama of the coming of death amongst the Tiwi was played out. Here Purukuparli the apical male ancestor carried his dead infant son out to sea and drowned. The coral reefs are also the domain of Tiwi women as they collect shellfish found on the reefs at low tide (see Caruana, W., Aboriginal Art, World of Art Series, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 2003, p.93) The artist is represented in most major public collections in Australia, including those mentioned above and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Museum
Sotheby's