WIMMITJI TJAPANGARTI

Warlayirti Artists, Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills)
Private collection, Melbourne

Very good and stable condition. No restoration or repairs. Unframed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Cf. Wantjanmurra, East of the Canning Stock Route, WA, 1992 in Cowan, J., Balgo: New Directions, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1999, p.114, plate 42, illus

A traditional healer (maban), Wimmitji rose to become one of the most important ceremonial leaders of the Wangkajunga people at the mission of Balgo Hills (Wirrimanu) in the Tanami Desert. Born at Kutakurtal, his country is around Lirrwarti near the Stansmore Ranges, some 150 kilometres south of Wirrimanu and he has traditional links to the Canning Stock Route and Jupiter Well, some 250 further away. Wimmitji first encountered kartiya (white people) at Balgo mission in the late 1940s. In 1958, the Australian anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt began to conduct fieldwork at Balgo, and Wimmitji and his wife, the painter Eubena Nampitjin (born c.1920), became their research partners. The painting movement at Balgo started tentatively in the early 1980s, but it was the exhibition, Art from the Great Sandy Desert, held in 1986-7 at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, that launched Balgo painters onto the world of art. Wimmitji was one of those painters. Since his work has been included in several important survey exhibitions to tour Europe and North America, including Aratjara, Art of the First Australians in 1993-4 and Stories: Eleven Aboriginal Artists; Works from the Holmes à Court Collection in 1995

Wimmitji was one of the senior custodians for the site depicted in this painting - Pilyarpa, associated with Wartanuma or the Flying Ant Dreaming. In ancestral times, the two Goanna Men set fire to this country as they travelled through it. The bright red ground of the painting represents water flowing across the land while the dotted shapes are higher ground.

This painting is sold with an accompanying Warlayirti Artists certificate.