EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE

Commissioned by Delmore Gallery, Northern Territory in January 1992
Robin Purves Gallery, Brisbane
Private collection, acquired from the above

Painting in very good condition with no visible repairs.
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Cf. Drying wild flowers in summertime, 1991, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, in Dodge, A.R., State Art Collection: Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1997, p.16, illus; and Arlatyeye - Wild Yam, 1991, in Isaacs, J. et al., Emily Kngwarreye Paintings, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1998, p.63, plate 16, illus

An exceptionally fine, early painting by the artist that expresses the drama and fecundity of the desert landscape fertilised by the summer rains. Executed in the summer of 1991-92, this is one of a series of paintings made that season that celebrate the life-giving forces of nature, and the metaphorical equivalents in spiritual and human terms which are recurring themes in the artist's œuvre. The fine tracery of the roots of the yam plant anooralya is evident in the background of the painting and is characteristic of the artist's early works on canvas. The tracery or organic grid establishes the compositional structure of the final work. However, the painting appears to be a transitional work for two reasons: it was painted at the end of a period of nearly two years when the artists experimented with colour and broadened her palette beyond traditional colours and their derivatives to incorporate brighter hues such as carmines and reds, greens, and as in this case, vivid yellows and blues intimating a sense of exultation and delight in the appearance of the landscape; secondly, in a number of larger scale works executed that summer, the artist abandoned or buried the compositional device of the background tracery as evidenced in Kame, 1991, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Kame - Summer Awelye I, 1991, and Kame -  Summer Awelye II, 1992 (Isaacs 1998, pp.68-9, plate 20, pp.70-71, plate 21 and pp.86-87, plate 23, respectively, illus)

This painting is sold with an accompanying certificate from Delmore Gallery and two photographs of the artist