Yirawala Sold at Auction Prices

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Mimih's Mortuary Dance, c. 1970

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Mimih's Mortuary Dance, c. 1970 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 25.5 x 27.5cm (10 1/16 x 10 13/16in).

YIRAWALA, EMU, C.1968

YIRAWALA (c.1895 - 1976) EMU, c.1968 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 32.0 x 73.0 cm (irregular) bears inscription verso: artist's name, title, location and language group bears inscription verso: FROM / BILL DONELLY / TO / KEN / ... OF / BUINDIYARA PROVENANCE Executed at Minjilang, Croker Island, Western Arnhem Land Private collection, Northern Territory Raffan Kelaher & Thomas, Sydney, 21 June 2010, lot 39 Private collection, Sydney © Yirawala/Copyright Agency 2024

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Barramundi

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Barramundi natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 40.0 x 83.0cm (15 3/4 x 32 11/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website

YIRAWALA, BARRAMUNDI, C.1968

YIRAWALA (c.1895 - 1976) BARRAMUNDI, c.1968 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 32.0 x 92.0 cm (irregular) PROVENANCE Most likely painted at Minjilang, Croker Island, Western Arnhem Land Private collection, California Joel Fine Art, Melbourne, 5 June 2007, lot 18 Private collection, Melbourne LITERATURE Barramundi, illus. in Le Brun Holmes, S.,  Yirawala: Painter of the Dreamtime, Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney, 1992, pl. 43 ESSAY Yirawala was a senior member of the Nabon clan of the Kuningku language group from the Liverpool River region of Western Arnhem Land. Raised in a traditional manner by his father, Yirawala was taught clan designs, songs and stories that explained local traditions. This learning together with regular exposure to the Rock Art found in galleries on the surrounding escarpment directly influenced his practice. Yirawala and his family moved to Croker Island in the late 1950s where he was an important and influential figure. His bark paintings of major ceremonial themes, including the Mardayin and Ubar ceremonies, depict totemic creatures and sprit figures. The Barramundi was intrinsic to Yirawala's depiction of the Mardayin, a series of paintings that represent great spiritual power. The major creation ancestor for the Kuningku people, the great hunter Lumahlumah, walked the land and distributed names and powers to all living creatures and inanimate sites. Lumahlumah was the first to see and name the barramundi. CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Yirawala/Copyright Agency 2022

Yirawala (1903-1976)

Fire Stick Ceremony white pipeclay and ochre on bark

Yirawala (1903-1976)

Maraian Ceremony white pipeclay and ochre on bark

YIRAWALA (C.1905 – 1976), MARAIAN WHITE BARRAMUNDI, C.1965.

YIRAWALA (C.1905 – 1976), MARAIAN WHITE BARRAMUNDI, C.1965. Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark. Provenance: Artist Yirawala, Western Arnhem Land, obtained Darwin, 1965 Private collection, Sydney. cf. Barramundi, illus. in Le Brun Holmes, S., Yirawala: Painter of the Dreamtime, Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney, 1992, pl. 143. Approx L101 x 57cm

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Male And Female Kangaroos c.1965

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Male And Female Kangaroos c.1965 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 77.0 x 44.5cm (30 5/16 x 17 1/2in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Barramundi, c.1964

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Barramundi, c.1964 label attached verso: 'Barramundi / Artist: Yirawala' natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 31.5 x 88.0cm (12 3/8 x 34 5/8in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Kangaroo (Ubar Ceremony),c.1964

Yirawala (circa 1897-1976) Kangaroo (Ubar Ceremony),c.1964 inscribed verso: 'Yarawala [sic] / Oenpelli / Jiritja moiety'; partially obscured label attached verso: 'artist Yirrawala [sic] / Country Oenpelli / Ubar ceremony / Arnhem Land' natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 138.5 x 51.0cm (54 1/2 x 20 1/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website

YIRAWALA, BARRAMUNDI, c.1960

THE PETER AND RENATE NAHUM COLLECTION OF ABORIGINAL ART, LONDON  YIRAWALA (c.1895 – 1976) BARRAMUNDI, c.1960 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 34.0 x 84.0 cm (irregular) bears inscription verso: artist’s name, title and cat. F/10, X53 PROVENANCE Collected by the artist, Len Annois in the late 1950s whilst on a field trip in Western Arnhem Land Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher~Menzies, Melbourne, 10 August 1998, lot 2 (dated as ‘c.1958’) The Peter and Renate Nahum Collection of Aboriginal Art, London RELATED WORK Barramundi, illus. in Le Brun Holmes, S., Yirawala: Painter of the Dreamtime, Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney, 1992, pl. 143

YIRAWALA, (c.1895 – 1976), DANCING MIMIH FIGURES, 1960s, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA, (c.1895 – 1976), DANCING MIMIH FIGURES, 1960s, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark SIGNED: bears old label verso with artist’s name, language group – Gunwingu [sic.] moiety – Dua, location and a description of the story depicted DIMENSIONS: 42.0 x 23.5 cm PROVENANCE: Most likely executed at Minjilang, Croker Island, Western Arnhem Land Native Arts Gallery, Sydney Private collection, United States of America, acquired from the above in 1970 RELATED WORKS Other examples of bark paintings featuring dancing Mimih figures are held in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, see Michael, L., (ed.), They are Meditating, Bark Painting from the MCA's Arnott's Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2008, pp. 196 – 199 The old label states: ‘Country inland from the Liverpool River. Ceremonial Leader for Maraian, Ubar and Lorrgon – last of the old cave artists and true ceremonial leader. The painting represents the mating of the first mimi man and woman by a waterhole below Oenpelli Arnhem Land. The old artist says that the mimi’s are spirit people now but once they were real but a lot smaller than present day Aborigines.’

YIRAWALA, (c.1895 – 1976), SACRED KANGAROO (KUNDAAGI) AND NORTHERN BANDICOOT, late 1960s, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA, (c.1895 – 1976), SACRED KANGAROO (KUNDAAGI) AND NORTHERN BANDICOOT, late 1960s, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark SIGNED: bears inscription verso: cat. U/500 and old descriptive label DIMENSIONS: 87.0 x 48.0 cm (irreg.) PROVENANCE: Most likely executed at Minjilang, Croker Island, Western Arnhem Land Dorothy Bennett, Darwin (descriptive label verso) Private collection, United States of America, acquired by the vendor from Robert Ypres at the Native Art Gallery, Paddington, Sydney in 1970 ESSAY: Kundaagi, the Red Plains Kangaroo, is the ancestral being for whom the first Lorrkkon (second burial ceremony) was performed in western Arnhem Land. His mother, the creator ancestress Yingarna had collected the bones of the dead kangaroo and placed them inside a hollow log, also known as a Lorrkkon, and performed a second burial ceremony. Subsequently the ceremony has been performed by the Kunwinjku and Kuninjku people to mark the safe arrival of the soul of the deceased to the ancestral realm. The x-ray style of painting employed by Yirawala is characteristic of western Arnhem Land art and here features the internal organs of the kangaroo (the heart, liver, stomach and intestines), as well as the ribs and backbone, thus linking the image to death and the burial ceremony. The figure of Kundaagi is decorated in clan designs such as those painted onto the bodies of performers in the ceremony. Yirawala has drawn a variant of the design onto the figures of the three northern bandicoots which are likely to represent young initiates, probably from a different clan to that of the deceased, who attend Lorrkkon ceremonies for educational purposes. Kundaagi and the Lorrkkon ceremony is a recurring theme in Yirawala’s oeuvre. WALLY CARUANA

YIRAWALA , (c.1895 – 1976), MALEVOLENT FEMALE SPIRIT FIGURE, 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA, (c.1895 – 1976), MALEVOLENT FEMALE SPIRIT FIGURE, 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark SIGNED: bears inscription verso: cat. 05417 DIMENSIONS: 111.0 x 24.5 cm PROVENANCE: Acquired at Minjilang, Croker Island, by a member of Malcolm Douglas’s production crew during the filming of the documentary Across the Top Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 15 – 16 November 2005, lot 82 (as ‘Mimih Figure’) Collection of the late Duncan Kentish, Adelaide ESSAY: An exceptional image of a sorcery by the doyen of western Arnhem Land bark painting of the 20th century, Yirawala, the subject belongs to a genre of painting that may be found on rock surfaces throughout the western Arnhem escarpment. Sorcery images were often commissioned by an individual as a means of retribution for a wrong inflicted, often relating to matters of marriage and infidelity. Characteristically, sorcery figures are depicted with distended body parts as illustrated here, and often with multiple limbs and exaggerated sexual organs. A common feature of many sorcery paintings is the depiction of sting rays barbs inserted into the joints, as seen in this painting, to inflict severe harm. In the 1960s, the anthropologists and collectors Ronald and Catherine Berndt and Karel Kupka commissioned artists living at the mission at Minjilang on Croker Island to paint such images – although the artists were actively discouraged by the missionaries. This work was collected by a member of the production crew for ‘Across the Top’, a hugely popular film made by Malcolm Douglas (1941–2010), the renowned crocodile expert and outback documentary film maker. Released in 1968, the film was the result of six months of travel undertaken in 1964 from Darwin to Arnhem Land, and across the Gulf Country to Cape York. It was hugely popular on television and opened up northern Australia to many Australians. Significantly, paintings by Yirawala collected by Karel Kupka of similar subjects may be found today in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and the Museum der Kulturen, Basel. Paintings in the same genre collected by Ronald and Catherine Berndt are housed in the collection of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia in Perth. WALLY CARUANA

Yirawala circa 1903-1976 LUMAHLUMAH'S DAUGHTER (CIRCA 1970) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Yirawala circa 1903-1976 LUMAHLUMAH'S DAUGHTER (CIRCA 1970) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 54.5 X 25CM PROVENANCE Painted at Minjilang (Croker Island), Western Arnhem Land Private Collection, Sydney Important Aboriginal Art, Sotheby's Australia, Melbourne, 24 July 2007, Lot 156 (illustrated) Private Collection, New South Wales This painting bears a description label verso PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW SOUTH WALES

Yirawala (1900-1970)

Untitled (Maraian Design) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 51 x 23.5cm

Yirawala (1900-1970)

Untitled (Kangaroos) bears artist's name, date on the reverse as well as artist's name, date, dimensions and provenance on a label attached on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 60 x 40cm

YIRAWALA 1903 - 1976 UNTITLED (JUNBARBAR)

bears artist's name, title and size on the reverse

YIRAWALA 1903 - 1976 SPEARING LUMAH LUMAH

bears artist's name, title and size on the reverse

YIRAWALA 1903 - 1976 RAINBOW SERPENT WITH EGGS

YIRAWALA 1903 - 1976 WATERHOLES

bears size on the reverse

YIRAWALA 1903 - 1976 UNITITLED (LORRKON CEREMONY - DANCE OF SKELETONS)

bears artist's name and size on reverse

Yirawala 1903 - 1976 UNTITLED natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

bears artist's name and catalogue number 38 on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Yirawala 1903 - 1976 MIMIH CEREMONY natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

bears artist's name and catalogue number 25 on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Yirawala 1903 - 1976 LUMAHLUMAH THE BIG MARAIAN CULT HERO natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

bears artist's name, moiety, region and descriptive notes on label on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Yirawala 1903 - 1976 MIMIHS LOVE MAKING - WUBARR CEREMONY natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

bears artist's name 'Yarawala' [ sic ] and numbered 44 on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Yirawala 1903 - 1976 MIMIHS-MAKING INCREASE MAGIC natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

bears artist's name, title and catalogue number 23, on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 MIMIHS Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, size and number 35 on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

- YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 KUNAPIPI (SACRED AND SECRET) Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, catalogue numbers Y/4 and 8 on the reverse together with Gould Collection documentation attached to the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

- YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 MOTHER OF KUNDAKIDJ (RED PLAINS KANGAROO) Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Inscribed 'Kundargi- Maraian' on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

- YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 WUBARR CEREMONY Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 MIMIH AND KANGAROO INCREASE Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, date, catalogue number 31, together with descriptive notes on label attached to the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 THE WIND MIMIHS Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, title and notes on label on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 MARDAYIN - STRING DANCE Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, title and numbered '33' on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 DANCING MIMIHS AND MOSQUITO PEOPLE Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, dated 1971 and numbered 26 on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 THREE MIMIH SPIRITS Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, date 1962, size and numbered 22 on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 MARALAITJ - WOMAN IS BORN Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears catalogue number 6 and various other titles and indistinct descriptions and numbers on both the reverse and on a label verso Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

YIRAWALA , CIRCA 1903-1976 SACRED BLACK KANGAROO Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

Bears artist's name, title, number 52 and has a descriptive label on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark