Lot 56: DEAF TOMMY MUNGATOPI CIRCA 1925-1985

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