Title
Lany'tjung story no. 1
1959
Artists
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Details
- Other Title
- Lany'tjung story, myth no 1 Laindjung stroy, myth no 1
- Place where the work was made
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Yirrkala
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North-east Arnhem Land
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Date
- 1959
- Media category
- Bark painting
- Materials used
- natural pigments on bark
- Dimensions
- 153.7 x 38.1 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Dr Stuart Scougall 1959
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA60.1959
- Copyright
- © Estate of Munggurrawuy Yunupingu, courtesy Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre
- Artist information
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Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu
Works in the collection
- Artist information
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Bunuŋgu Yunupiŋu
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
top: A Yirritja Ngärra ceremony was held near Caledon Bay. Three brothers and their two sisters were dancing when they called out the sacred name for fire. A fire, already burning, grew. One of the sisters tried to stop the fire but it spread. A vertical diamond pattern depicting wood divides the panel into two parts. The Yirritja diamond-patterned cross-hatching on the left represents the fire - black being ashes and red the glow of the fire. Dots in the horizontal bands at the top represent sparks while those in the lower bands represent flames. On the right are depicted the bones and ashes of the people burnt. One of the sisters is shown in a sacred shade surrounded by smoke.
upper: The diamond pattern between the fire and the bandicoot is Muŋgurrawuy's Dreaming.
lower: The ancestral Bandicoot is seen surrounded by grass and entering a hollow log to save itself from the fire. The dots are the bandicoot's footprints.
bottom: The division between these panels represents the bank of a billabong and the watermark. Baru the crocodile is depicted in a billabong, the area of cross-hatching surrounding the crocodile is its nest, and the remaining cross-hatching represents räkay (eleocharis dulci), a highly nutritious species of lily. Dots represent bubbles from the crocodile as it dives under water.
© Information provided by the artist
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
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Places
Where the work was made
Yirrkala
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Exhibition history
Shown in 5 exhibitions
Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Aug 1960–18 Sep 1960
Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, Oct 1960–Oct 1960
Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Melbourne, Nov 1960–Dec 1960
Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, Feb 1961–Mar 1961
Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Apr 1961–Apr 1961
Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, May 1961–Jun 1961
Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Jul 2007–02 Dec 2007
The Dreamers (2009-10), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 May 2009–15 Aug 2010
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Peter Gotting, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'To great and absent friends', pg. 14, Sydney, 01 Aug 2000, 14 (illus.). see Curator's worksheet for copy
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Frederick D. McCarthy, Australian Aboriginal art: bark paintings, carved figures, sacred and secular objects: an exhibition arranged by the State art galleries of Australia, 1960-1961, 'Introduction', pg. 7-17, Sydney, 1960, 28. cat.no. 72
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Howard Morphy, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘Making the familiar unfamiliar: The aesthetics of Eastern Arnhem Land art’, pg. 73-77, Sydney, 2007, 77 (colour illus.).
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