Ancestors and Spirits

Although predominantly contemporary in focus, the Australian National Gallery's collection of Aboriginal bark paintings also acknowledges the vital role played by Aboriginal artists working earlier this century. Paintings from the 1950s and 1960s have become increasingly rare over the past decade, and the Gallery has been fortunate in acquiring a large group of works from what is now considered a critical period in the recent evolution of Aboriginal arts. The aim of the present exhibition is to document the achievements of this period through the works of a number of major artists — at the same time charting the influence exerted by these artists on the men and women producing bark paintings in Arnhem Land today.

The majority of Aboriginal artists of the 1950s and 1960s lived in relatively large settled communities, either on mission stations or in government-established centres. Working at a time when their art had not attained the widespread recognition it enjoys today, this important generation of painters — among the most accomplished Australia has ever seen — were little known outside their own communities. Many were respected elders and prominent ritual leaders, while others were younger artists beginning to make their mark on Aboriginal society. Their paintings, created within one of the longest continuous traditions of art known, relate a complex of stories and themes associated with ancestral beings and spirits, their power, and the land itself.

Most of the paintings made by the artists of Central and North-East Arnhem Land represent the universal themes of their ancestors, the creation stories, related ceremonies and personal totemic affiliations. In the north-east, where clan membership is socially and ritually significant, the most important painters include Narritjin Maymuru of the Manggalili, Munggerrawuy Yunapingu of the Gumaitj and Mawalung of the Riratjingu clans. As leaders and teachers of the people, these artists influenced younger painters such as Larrtjanga Ganambarr and Mithinari, and Mawalung also taught his daughter Bangul to make ritually important paintings on bark.

The principal mythology of Central Arnhem Land is that of the Wagilag Sisters, with its associated complex of beliefs and rituals. As the ceremonial elder of the Liyagalawumirri people, Dawidi was the chief keeper of the story, which tells of the day the two Wagilag sisters wandered into the sacred place belonging to Wititj the giant python. Angered by the intrusion, Wititj devoured the sisters and their children.

Dawidi elaborated on the various established pictorial representations of the legend, and his work had a measurable effect on that of contemporaries such as Bininyiwui and Dawarangulili. A comparison between their paintings and those of John Bunguwuy and Libunja demonstrates the capacity of these artists for expressing individuality within the stylistic conventions available for depicting themes such as the Morning Star and wild honey or sugarbag.

More personal themes are the subjects of paintings by Mick Magani and Walipuru, while David Malangi is renowned as a pictorial innovator. Now a well-established artist, Malangi incorporates into his work visual elements and a rendering of figures reminiscent of the painting styles found further to the west of Arnhem Land.

The leading artist working on Croker Island in West Arnhem Land during the 1950s and 1960s was Yirawala. Highly prolific and inventive, he was, like many Croker Island painters, chiefly concerned with images of spirit beings and sorcery. Yirawala's work is imbued with a strong sense of religious belief, traditional law and country — the foundations of Aboriginal life. In 1971 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his importance as an artist.

Yirawala has been a significant influence on the work of Jimmy Midjaw Midjawu, Paddy Compass Namatbara, January Nangunyari Naramidali and Wurdanga, all of whom use their paintings to depict totemic ancestral figures and legendary spirits. The agents of benevolent magic or of malignant sorcery, these spirits are often related to sexual matters. They are conventionally shown as essentially human in form, frequently with multiple limbs, distorted genitals and protruding spines, and sometimes with the attributes of other creatures. Paintings representing spirits, which were probably derived from rock paintings in West Arnhem Land, have rarely been made since the mid-1960s.

In establishing its collection of works by Aboriginal artists, the principal aim of the Gallery has been to keep abreast of the changing and evolving traditions — which are reflected today in a wealth of activity in a variety of media and idioms. In concentrating on one aspect of Aboriginal creativity from the recent past, Ancestors and Spirits not only points to the antecedents of the current developments, but draws attention to some of the most important and influential figures in the art of the Arnhem Land Aborigines.