Lot 43
DICK NGULEINGULEI MURRUMURRA (1920 - 1988)
MIMI SPIRIT AND KANGAROO, C. 1970s
Auction: 26 November 2025 at 14:00 GMT
Description
natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark, depicting a Mimi spirit hunter and kangaroo
Dimensions
94.5 x 56cm
Provenance
Jerome Gould, Los Angeles
Michael Hamson, California
Francois Coppens, Belgium
Footnote
Dick Nguleingulei Murrumurru was a significant Bularlhdja artist from Western Arnhem Land, born around 1920 at Kukadjerri near the Liverpool River. He grew up within the rock country that shaped his art, absorbing the visual traditions of ancient stone painting sites that his bark paintings later carried forward.
Murrumurru’s work is celebrated for its fidelity to the rock art heritage of his homeland. While many of his contemporaries adopted new influences, he remained devoted to traditional forms and ceremonial imagery. His paintings on eucalyptus bark are executed with natural ochres, often set against a rich red ground that heightens the brightness of the white and yellow figures.
He is best known for his masterful use of the Western Arnhem Land x-ray style, depicting animals, spirits and ancestral beings with visible internal anatomy. Figures are outlined in white pipeclay, their faces marked by large open mouths and high-set eyes; features that give his ancestral subjects a powerful and animated presence.
Working predominantly in the 1960s - 70s, he became known as one of the great custodians of the old painting traditions. His barks, now held in major institutions around the world, act as a bridge between the rock art of the region and the modern bark painting movement of Arnhem Land.