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Details
- Other Title
- Mimi man and woman
- Place where the work was made
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Gunbalanya (Oenpelli)
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Western Arnhem Land
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Date
- (1948)
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- natural pigments on paper on cardboard
- Dimensions
- 58.4 x 45.0 cm image/sheet; 76.0 x 63.2 x 3.5 cm frame
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of the Commonwealth Government 1956
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 9274
- Artist information
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Unknown
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The Mimi whose homes are under the great rocks of the plateau, are particularly tall and thin, so thin in fact that they can hunt only in still weather otherwise the wind would break their frail bodies. They are also remarkably keen in both sight and hearing. If, while hunting, the Mimi detect the approach of Aboriginal people, they run quickly to a cleft in the rocks of the plateau and blow upon it. The rocks then open to admit the Mimi, closing behind them to keep out intruders.
[Charles P. Mountford, 'Records of the American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land vol. 1: Art, myth and symbolism']
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Places
Where the work was made
Gunbalanya (Oenpelli)
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Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Crossing country: the alchemy of Western Arnhem Land art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 24 Sep 2004–12 Dec 2004
Mountford Gifts: Works from the American Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land 1948, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Mar 2009–03 Jun 2009
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Bibliography
Referenced in 5 publications
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Jonathan Jones, Mountford Gifts: Works from the American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land 1948, 'Mountford Gifts: Works from the American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land 1948', pg. 1-5, Sydney, 2009, 3, 4, 6 (colour illus.).
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National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Purchases and Acquisitions for 1956 National Art Gallery of N.S.W., Sydney, 1956, 22. cat.no. 55; titled 'Mimi man and woman'
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Hetti Perkins, Crossing country: the alchemy of western Arnhem Land art, Sydney, 2004, 145 (colour illus.), 230.
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Cara Pinchbeck, Look, 'Aboriginal treasures: From the early days of the Gallery’s Indigenous collection', pg. 23, Sydney, Feb 2009, 23 (colour illus.). titled 'Mimi man and woman'
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Public Programmes Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Crossing country: the alchemy of western Arnhem Land art, 'Early collecting in western Arnhem Land', Sydney, 2004, (colour illus.).
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