For this week’s Picture Post from Bridgeman Art we’re featuring this stunning acrylic on canvas work by Australian Aboriginal artist Dick Pantimas, Warnampi Tingari.
The Tingari Men were a group of Australian Aboriginal ancestral elders who − in the Dreaming − travelled over vast areas of the Western Desert, performing rituals and creating or “opening up” the country. They were usually accompanied by recently-initiated novices to whom they provided instruction in the ritual and law of the region.
The adventures of the Tingari groups are enshrined in numerous song-myth cycles which provide explanations for contemporary customs in Western Desert aboriginal life. Deep knowledge of Tingari business is restricted to men possessing appropriate levels of seniority in Western Desert society, but many stories have “public versions” which do not disclose secret/sacred knowledge.
From British Colonial to Aboriginal art, Bridgeman represents the majority of Australian collections for licensing.
Picture Credit: Warnampi Tingari, 1980 (acrylic), Tjupurrula, Dick Pantimas (c.1940-83) / Corbally Stourton Contemporary Art, Australia / The Bridgeman Art Library
