Provenance
The Artist, created at Yirrkala, northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
Yirrkala Methodist Mission, Northern Territory
Private Collection
Important Aboriginal Art, Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 50
The Martin Rae Collection, New York, acquired from the above
Yirrkala Methodist Mission, Northern Territory
Private Collection
Important Aboriginal Art, Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 50
The Martin Rae Collection, New York, acquired from the above
Exhibited
Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 14 November 2007 – 18 October 2009, cat. no. L.2007.72.3 (on loan)
Description
These rare 1950s sculptures (p. 67 & p. 69) by Muŋgurrawuy Yunupiŋu depict one of the Yirritja creator beings, Lanydjung. Lanydjung is remembered as an indistinct and shadowy figure, who sometimes took on the entity and names of other spirit ancestors.
On the coast of north-east Arnhem Land, Lanydjung and his brother, or companion, Banaitja emerged out of the sea. As they did so, the foam and spray ran in white lines down their bodies and formed a honeycomb pattern as they dried.
The two men travelled with their digging sticks, forming the land and the animals that inhabited it.
Both figures are decorated with resplendent body paint designs and ceremonial ornaments featuring lorikeet feathers.