AUCTION | Aboriginal Works of Art | 4 June 2019

LOT #40 Peter Marralwanga (1916-1987) Frogs, 1977 63 x 19 cm : Frame 79.5 x 35 cm natural earth pigments on Eucalyptus bark $2,000 - 3,000 PROVENANCE Gift from the artist to NT Police Officer Charlie Meneghetti in 1977 Jim Davidson Collection, Vic Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, Vic Private Collection, Vic Marralwanga was greatly influenced by Yirawala, particularly in the use of cross-hatching or rarrk in-fill, derived from the designs of the Mardayin ceremony. Maralwanga was innovative with his rarrk techniques and empowered many of the next generation of artists, such as John Mawurndjul and his own sons Ivan Namirrkki and Samuel Namunjdja, to continue experimentation and invention in their works. However, Maralwanga differed from these younger artists, particularly Mawurndjul, who allows rarrk designs to drive his work into pure abstraction. In contrast, Marralwanga’s compositions always centred upon the figurative, to which the rarrk designs remained subservient, while altering the formal convention of the rarrk’s colour sequencing and orientation in order to illuminate, to its utmost, the flow and movement of the figure.