Indigenous fine art auction

Each year, as we view private collections here and overseas in the hope of securing important early artefacts and artworks for our Cooee Art Auctions, we uncover artworks created during the past century that surprise and delight me. Seldom more so than on this occasion.

The two early boards in this sale are as good as they get. Foremost, is the very first painting ever credited to Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri – Untitled, Possum Dreaming c.1971 (Lot 27) is considered by many to be a vital part of the National Estate. According to Wally Caruana, the former curator of Aboriginal art at the National Gallery of Australia,‘this small yet luminous work emanates a numinous quality’, while anthropologist John Kean has commented that it reveals ‘an encyclopaedic representation of objects that refer to its restricted ceremonial context’. Dr.Vivien Johnson, the artist’s biographer, has argued that it is ‘vital for the early history of Papunya painting, arguably Australia’s most significant art movement, that this work be retained here in Australia, if possible in a public collection’. The board carries an estimate of $150,000 - $180,000.

Works by Emily Kame Kngwarreye feature strongly, as befits an artist who has scaled the lofty heights of the international art world during the past decade. Paintings in this auction, range from one of her earliest works, Untitled, 1989 (Lot 10 Estimate $25,000 - $35,000) which featured in the Queensland Art Gallery retrospective in 1998, to a vivacious action painting entitled Alatyite (Spinifex Dreaming) created for Utopia Art in 1994 (Lot 57 Estimate $80,000 - $120,000). A highlight of the auction, (Lot 39 $80,000 - $120,000) Yam Dreaming, 1995 is a striking example of her black and white Yam works that were created for the Holt family at Delmore Downs, the largest of which holds pride of place in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (Big Yam Dreaming, 1995). 

Large captivating artworks from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands have been a feature of major landscape prizes in recent years – we have several wonderful examples in this offering. It has been a great pleasure putting this lovely collection of works together. I hope you find that special piece amongst them that speaks irresistibly to you.