BODY MARKS, 1997

Important Australian + International Fine Art
Melbourne
6 May 2015
55

PRINCE OF WALES (MIDPUL)

(c.1935 - 2002)
BODY MARKS, 1997

synthetic polymer paint on linen

122.0 x 92.0 cm

inscribed verso: artist's name, title and date

Estimate: 
$15,000 - 20,000
Sold for $26,400 (inc. BP) in Auction 39 - 6 May 2015, Melbourne
Provenance

Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi (label attached verso)
Private collection, United Sates of America

Catalogue text

'In taking up painting in 1995, Prince found a medium through which he could retain the essence of his active ceremonial life. His paintings have a musicality imparted by the lively staccato-effect of the dots and intermittent bars, as if to read like sheet music for an improvised symphony. Prince's uninhibited use of colour belies the origins of these designs which were passed on by his ancestors as marks on the bodies of ceremonial participants.'

Perkins, H., Tradition Today; Indigenous Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004, p. 166