Lot 41: CHARLIE TARARU TJUNGURRAYI , WILD POTATO STORY 1971

Bears artist's name 'Charlie Jungari' (sic), language group 'Pintipi' (sic), title and diagrammatic annotations, in Geoffrey Bardon's hand on the reverse, and numbered '10' Synthetic polymer powder paint and acrylic on composition board

88 by 41 cm

Bardon, G. and J. Bardon, Papunya, A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004, p. 326, painting 268, under the title Yam Dreaming (Version 2), illusA photograph of the artist holding this painting, along with several other artists and Geoffrey Bardon standing outside the Papunya painting room in 1971, taken by Fred Friis, is reproduced in Bardon, G., Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1991, p.27; Perkins, H. and H. Fink (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales in association with Papunya Tula Artists, Sydney, 2000, p.246, and again in Bardon and Bardon 2004, p.28

Painted at Papunya in September/October 1971
Acquired by Mr Ron Collins, editor of Geoff Bardon's first film on the Pintupi entitled The Richer Hours, completed in 1971
Private collection, Queensland, acquired from the above

Cf. Yam Dreaming (Versions 1 and 3), 1971, in Bardon and Bardon 2004, p.326, illus.; see also Wild Food Story, pre-1972, in the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, in Croker, A., Charlie Tjararu Tjungurrayi: A Retrospective 1970?1986, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, N.S.W., 1987, p.47, plate 10, illus In July/August 1971 Tararu painted a version of the Yam or Wild Potato Dreaming on a floor tile, however Geoffrey Bardon found this unsaleable so he commissioned the artist to paint another version in better quality materials. Executed in September/October 1971, this painting is the result. It depicts the yam plant with the round yams attached: the plant is surrounded by men in ceremonial regalia (U-shapes) with their ritual sticks. For a brief discussion of Tararu?s first Yam Dreaming paintings see Bardon and Bardon 2004, pp.326?7 (ibid).