Pivotal works in Aboriginal art
January 2011
Untitled,
by Aboriginal artist Judy Watson Napangardi
acrylic on Belgian linen, 90cm x 150cm
After many calls and emails, we have introduced select Australian Aboriginal artworks to our website.
These works are by leading "blue-chip" Aboriginal artists or up and coming artists who we believe are producing significant and important artwork today that will be assessed in the future as pivotal works in Aboriginal art.
The first artist we are presenting is Judy Watson Napangardi. Judy is a senior elder (born c 1925) from the Yuendumu region in the Northern Territory. Her actual birthplace was Mina Mina, some 200 kilometres west of Yuendumu.
Represented:
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht
Central TAFE, WA
Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra
Flinders University Art Museum, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Judy Watson Napangardi's auction record:
Womens Dreaming, 1995, synthetic polymer paint on linen, inscribed verso: KA 883/97, 193 x 367cm, Est: $US 180,000–$US 240,000, Lawson~Menzies, Sydney, 19/03/2008, Lot no. 231, $US 216,000
Recent auction prices:
Untitled, acrylic on canvas – env., 130 x 200 cm, Est: EUR16,000–18,000, Gaia Auction, Paris, 25/10/2009, Lot no. 22, EUR15,984 / A$US 26,028
The painting pictured above refers to the significant site of Mina Mina, west of Yuendumu in Central Australia, where the women gather ngalyipi (snake vine). The vine has ceremonial significance to Warlpiri people of Central Australia. The Aboriginal symbols used in this image are the ngalyipi running though the painting, women represented by "U" shapes and circles representing ceremonial sites.
Size: 90cm x 150cm
Material: acrylic on Belgian linen
Please contact us for further information.
Kind regards,
Anthony Smith and the asart team
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Also view:
- September 2015 – Beauty and the beast!
- April 2015 – We are changing!
- January 2015 – 2015... can you believe it?
- June 2014 – The end of Aboriginal Art?
- October 2013 – Anomaly, revelation and Pairoj
- July 2013 – Little sign of economic woes in the art market
- April 2012 – Aboriginal art: truly magical (and underpriced)
- December 2011 – Museum quality Walangkura
- October 2011 – Karuna, Pairoj and Naata: fabulous artworks
- January 2011 – Pivotal works in Aboriginal art
Articles
Anthony Smith has been invited by Art Antiques Design to share his expertise about art in a series of articles:
- "Limited edition" Giclee prints: It's an oxymoron (May 2014)
- The Aboriginal art market in Australia: a personal perspective (October 2013)
- So why mention all this? (April 2013)
- Why Asian Art? Part 4 (June 2012)
- Why Asian Art? Part 3 (April 2012)
- Why Asian Art? Part 2 (March 2012)
- Why Asian Art? Part 1 (February 2012)
- True "collectors" buy what they like (February 2012)