Title
Women's dreaming (Two women)
1972
Artist
Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi
Australia
circa 1920 – 1987
Language group: Pintupi, Western Desert region
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Papunya
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Cultural origin
- Papunya Tula
- Date
- 1972
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- synthetic polymer powder paint on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 46.0 x 64.0 cm board; 47.8 x 66.0 x 4.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 2002
- Location
- South Building, lower level 1, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 302.2002
- Copyright
- © Estate of Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi. Licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd
- Artist information
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Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi
Works in the collection
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About
Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi was a man of quiet self-assurance and extraordinary presence. He grew up in the desert before travelling to Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff) around 1950. While he had a longer period of contact with non-Aboriginal people than some other Pintupi men of his age, he made little attempt to assimilate culturally or to learn English.
In 1960 he moved over the MacDonnell Ranges to Papunya, where the new settlement had been created. By the 1970s he was a powerful and sometimes feared ngangkari (traditional doctor). At Papunya, the Pintupi were marginalised, and there was almost continuous conflict between the people of various language groups clustered around the settlement. Lungkata was a forceful advocate for his people and more than once would proclaim his rights in a dance with spears in front of a large crowd in the community canteen. Because of the dire living conditions, he and his family chose to live on successive outstations to the west of the settlement, towards his traditional country.
Lungkata began painting in the Australian summer of 1971-72. His paintings are intensely concentrated; their energies are contained and inwardly focused. 'Women's dreaming (Two women)', 1972, is a magnificent example of his earliest work. It is spare and powerful, but with subtle details such as the interlocking of the dotted white lines that ensure the eye cannot rest completely on the imposing red ochre 'U' shapes representing the two women. Despite its pared back simplicity, this work resonates with the power of song – it is a moment of ephemeral ceremony enduring miraculously on hardboard.
From the mid-1970s, Lungkata's works became increasingly elaborate. His paintings often featured multiple sets of looping crescents building from a steady centre. In some instances he employed subtle modulations of tone and colour to support the pulsing rhythm of a work. During this phase, he was the only Papunya Tula artist to begin his roundels with ovals rather than circles, giving his painting an attenuated, slightly convex feel. By the end of the decade, he was creating monumental, authoritative works that were comprehensive representations of the several Tjukurrpa that cross his traditional country. His greatest works were created when the market demand for Western Desert art had not yet been realised and, consequently, Lungkata's significance as an artist should not be underestimated by the relative scarcity of his work.
John Kean in 'Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004
© Art Gallery of New South Wales
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Places
Where the work was made
Papunya
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Jul 2007–02 Dec 2007
Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert art, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 30 Sep 2011–12 Feb 2012
Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert art, Musee du quai Branly, Paris, 09 Oct 2012–20 Jan 2013
The streets of Papunya, Galleries UNSW, Paddington, 05 Sep 2015–07 Nov 2015
20th-Century galleries, lower level 1 (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 8 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2002, 'Year in review', pg. 8-25, Sydney, 2002, 24.
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Vivien Johnson, Once upon a time in Papunya, Sydney, 2010, between 152-153 (colour illus.).
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John Kean, Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia, 'Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi', pg. 160, Sydney, 2004, 160, 161 (colour illus.).
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John Kean, Sotheby's: Important Aboriginal art, ‘Property formerly from the Gavin and Elspeth Seagrim collection, Canberra’, pg. 86-89, Melbourne, Jun 2012, 87 (colour illus.), 88.
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Fred Myers and Jeremy Long, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘In recognition: The gift of Pintupi painting’, pg. 171-179, Sydney, 2007, 175 (colour illus.).
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Hetti Perkins, Art + soul: a journey into the world of Aboriginal art, 'Home + away', pg. 1-86, Carlton, 2010, 14 (colour illus.), 278.
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Hetti Perkins, Look: 1953-2003 celebrating 50 years, 'When the everyday becomes extraordinary: AGS help acceptance of young urban indigenous artists', pg. 51-53, Sydney, May 2003, 52.
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Hetti Perkins, Look, 'Singular symbolism: major work by a founding member of Papunya 'painting mob', pg. 27, Sydney, Dec 2002-Jan 2003, 27 (colour illus.).
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