Lot 69: MICK KUBARKKU BORN CIRCA 1922

NAMORUL AND HIS TWO BROTHERS EARLY 1970S

MEASUREMENTS

91.5 by 64 cm

Bears artist's name, language group 'Gunwinggu' (sic.), place of execution 'Momega', catalogue number M313 and title in felt pen on the reverse of backing board together with Gallery of Dreams, Aboriginal Arts Agency labels with details of the painting together with a description of the story depicted
Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark

PROVENANCE
Executed at Mumeka Outstation, Western Arnhem Land Aboriginal Arts, Sydney Gallery of Dreams (Hogarth Gallery), Sydney Private collection, USA Private collection, Perth Cf. For related paintings see Ryan, J., Spirit in Land: Bark Paintings from Arnhem Land in the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1990; Taylor, L., Seeing the Inside: Bark Painting in Western Arnhem Land, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996; West, M. K. C. (ed.), Rainbow, Sugarbag and Moon: Two Artists of the Stone Country, Bardayal Nadjamerrek and Mick Kubarkku, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 1995 Kubarkku is a senior artist of the Kulmarru clan in western Arnhem Land. His paintings are distinguished by the clear bands of rarrk (cross-hatching) which show the influence of central Arnhem Land bark painting as a consequence of the time he spent living at Milingimbi (Taylor, L. in West, 1995, p.23) The painting depicts a Kuninjku man, Namorul, and his two brothers. In ancestral times, they and a number of elder men were out hunting when they stopped to rest at a waterhole. The older men instructed the brothers not to enter the waterhole but Namorul, who was proud and strong, defied them. In retaliation, Namorrkon the Lightning Man, sent down a bolt of lightning which severed Namorul's head and split his backbone, right down to his genitals The label on the reverse reads; 'Long ago in the Dreaming time a number of Gunwinggu men were out hunting and stopped to rest near a waterhole. The older men told the younger ones they must not use the waterhole to wash in or something terrible would happen to them. One young man named Namorul was defiant and said to himself "I am young and stronger than those old men, nothing can hurt me. I will go and wash the sticky honey from my hands. I am not frightened by these old tales". So he went to the pool and washed. Later two young men who were his brothers asked him why he had defied the older men, and they told him they were frightened for him for what he had done was against tribal law. Namorul laughed and said "Rubbish. Look at me I am alright, nothing hurt me because I was not afraid. I am strong and I did what I wanted to do - that is the only way". His brothers told him that they were still afraid for him and that he should listen to what the older men said but Namorul laughed and walked away. That night the sky became very dark and a bright streak of lightning came through the night like a giant spear and struck Namorul severing his head and slicing his body down his backbone to his genitals. Soon the fate of Namorul was told to all the tribe and has been passed down the years to young people especially those who are defiant of older people. Namorren (sic.) the lightning man they warned does not act alone, but is summoned to exact his punishment against wrong doers by a medicine man who sings him up and bids him to do his work'