KAME COLOUR, 1996

Important Australian + International Fine Art
Melbourne
29 November 2007
40

Emily Kame Kngwarreye

(1910 - 1996)
KAME COLOUR, 1996

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

151.0 x 91.0 cm

inscribed with artist's name and Delmore Gallery
catalogue number verso: Emily Kngwarreye/ 96G027/ commissioned by/ Delmore
inscribed with title and dated on label attached verso: Kame Colour/ July 1996
accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Delmore Gallery, Northern Territory

Estimate: 
$50,000 - $70,000
Sold for $55,200 (inc. BP) in Auction 3 - 29 November 2007, Melbourne
Provenance

Commissioned by Delmore Gallery, Northern Territory
William Mora Galleries, Melbourne (gallery stamp verso)
Applied Chemicals Collection, Melbourne

Exhibited

Of My Country: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, The Applied Chemicals Collection, Bendigo Art Gallery, 1 - 30 May 1999, and touring various venues throughout Victoria and New South Wales, June 1999 - April 2000

Catalogue text

These abandoned gestural strokes give out much energy, focusing on the fertile anticipation of a good season of bush tucker in arid Australia. The composition of line and colour is very pacey, with the palette representing the colours of ripening fruits and flowers of the bush plants.

'Awelye' - or ceremonial expression, releases the spiritual power that maintains nature's fertility and hardiness. The belief that good seasons always return, that the yam 'always comes back', is fundamental to understanding the desert environment and therefore, survival. A parallel layer of expression runs with the fundamental understanding of 'awelye', that being of basic human nature, understanding it, abiding by the rules set down by society in order that it too will survive.

JANET HOLT

Delmore Downs, Northern Territory