Lot 77: JARINYANU DAVID DOWNS , CIRCA 1925-1995 DANCE OF KURTAL Natural earth pigments and synthetic binders on linen

Signed 'David Downs Jorijjonu' (sic) and bears title on label on the reverse Natural earth pigments and synthetic binders on linen

228 by 136.5 cm

Jarinyanu David Downs, Bonython Meadmore Gallery, Sydney, 18 August - 13 September 1988, cat.22, illus. front cover

Commissioned by Duncan Kentish in 1988
Bonython Meadmore Gallery, Sydney
The Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Western Australia (label on stretcher on the reverse)
Private collection

The original accompanying documentation read in part:

'Kurtal is a Storm Being from the Ngarangarni - the Walmajarri word for the Dreaming...When Kurtal entered Jarinyanu's country he was nearing the end of his journey...Before a gathering of people from this area, Kurtal danced his final dance, metamorphosed into a snake, and sank into the earth where he remains today in a permanent rock-hole spring. This spring supplied a reliable supply of water in all seasons, but in addition the old man would perform rituals at this site during the hot weather season to make Kurtal bring rain...He is held to be responsible for and present within those particularly dramatic storms that usher in the break of the rainy season...(Dance of Kurtal) reveals Kurtal generating storms, with his arms and head enveloped in a cloud streaked with lightning and dust. A vertical snake motif suggests Kurtal's face is simultaneously the head of a snake, prefiguring his approaching metamorphosis. A band of cloud at his waist divides earth from sky. The lower section shows a grouping of women and girls and young boys. The women wear a vertical-striped body paint while the boys are painted with a snake motif.' (Kentish, D., Jarinyanu David Downs, exhibition catalogue, Sydney, 1988)