This exhibition features early works that embody a significant transition in Indigenous art practice, the first representations on bark of important ancestral beings, sacred clan designs and totemic animals made specifically for outsiders.
The paintings, many of which have never been previously exhibited, were collected between 1935 and 1950 by renowned anthropologist Professor Donald Thomson and ethnologist Dr Leonhard Adam from artists in Central and Eastern Arnhem Land, Caledon Bay and Groote Eylandt, representing the beginnings of an intercultural language – one that has since evolved into a world renowned artistic tradition.
The Ian Potter Museum of Art
Until 23 February, 2014
Melbourne
Attributed to Makani Wilingarr, Ngarra minytji (Ngarra ceremony design), c. 1937, natural pigments on bark, 139 x 113.5cm
Courtesy The Donald Thomson Collection, the University of Melbourne, Museum Victoria, and Jimmy Burinyila, Ramingining
