Lot 39: Ali Miller Mungatopi circa 1910-1968 PUKUMANI CEREMONY-CROCODILE SKIN natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

bears artist's name, title, size, catalogue number 253, dated 1966 and a descriptive label on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

57.5 by 41cm

Private collection

It is customary among the Tiwi for people to be known by a number of alternate names: Ali Miller Mungatopi was also known as Para Puta Wei and Oruputuwae. It is under the two latter names that three of his paintings are illustrated in M.A. O'Ferrall, Keepers of the Secrets: Aboriginal Art from Arnhem Land in the Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth: Art Gallery of Western Australia, 1990, pp.36, 37, pl.35-37; pl.35, The Purukuparli Story - The Crocodile Dance, 1963, features the same theme as Crocodile skin. For another irregularly cut bark featuring a single motif, see Spider web - Pukumani body design, c.1964, by an unknown artist (ibid. p.37, pl.39). See also Sandra Le Brun Holmes, The Goddess and the Moon Man: The Sacred Art of the Tiwi Aborigines, Sydney: Craftsman House, 1995, for an extensive biography of the artist.