DOUBLE-SIDED FIGURE REPRESENTING BIMA AND PURUKAPALI, c.1955

Aboriginal Art from the Luczo Family Collection
Melbourne
19 October 2016
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16

ENRAELD DJULABINYANA MUNKARA

(1882 – 1968)
DOUBLE-SIDED FIGURE REPRESENTING BIMA AND PURUKAPALI, c.1955

natural earth pigments on carved ironwood

51.0 cm height

Estimate: 
$20,000 – 30,000
Sold for $29,280 (inc. BP) in Auction 45 - 19 October 2016, Melbourne
Provenance

Created on Melville Island, c.1955
Dorothy Bennett Collection, Darwin
The Wesfarmers Collection, Perth
Sotheby's, Sydney, November 1997, lot 39 (illus. catalogue cover)
Private collection, Sydney
AP Bond Gallery, Adelaide
The Luczo Family Collection, USA

Related works

Purukapali and Bima, c.1955, in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, illus. in Caruana, W., Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London, 2003, pl. 73, p. 90
The Grief of Bima, c.1965, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, illus. in O’Ferrell, M.A., Keepers of the Secrets; Aboriginal Art from the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1990, pl. 27, p. 32
The Artist in Pukumani for his Brother, c.1960, in the collection of National Museum of Australia, Canberra, illus. in Luthi, B., et al. Aratjara: Art of the First Australians, Dumont, Cologne, 1993, p. 158

According to the original collection annotations, the figure on the reverse with only one breast represents Bima's friend. However, the single breasted figure may represent Bima, after her child has died.