Charlie Wartuma Tjungurrayi

Old Man’s Dreaming at Tjurrpungkuntjanya

1974

The ancestral travels of the trickster Yina (the “Old Man”) track a path from Kampurarrnga through Ngurrapalangu and Yumari and on westward, traversing precisely the traditional route that Pintupi would traverse across the desert plains. Yina’s exploits are reenacted in both painting and ceremony, particularly those involving his genitals, which frequently separate from his body and take on a life of their own. In Charlie Wartuma Tjungurrayi’s painting Old Man’s Dreaming at Tjurrpungkuntjanya (1974), the artist depicts a rocky rise where Yina’s testicles raced ahead by the side of Yina’s path. Considerable humor is found in Yina’s calling for his penis and testicles, which are variously bitten by ants or trodden on by dogs before turning to gold at Nyuntjulnga. For all the levity, however, Yina is also a frightening figure and the bearer of powerful sorcery.

If I don't paint this story, some whitefella might come and steal my country.

CHARLIE WARTUMA TJUNGURRAYI

Language Group: Pintupi
Dates: 1925-1999

Charlie Wartuma Tjungurrayi was born west of Walungurru (Kintore) at Tjitururrnga in the mid 1920s. He was one of the founding artists at Papunya in 1971 and an original shareholder of Papunya Tula Artists. Charlie’s work most often features stories from and around the area of Tjitururrnga and includes Emu, Wallaby, Yam, Water and Frog Dreamings, as well as parts of the Yina Tjukurrpa (Old Man Dreaming) he shared with others. He painted from the beginning of the painting movement in 1971 to his death in July of 1999 and was the first of the founding members to receive his own retrospective. Charlie had nine children with his wife, Tatali Nangala, who also became a recognized painter. Tragically, three of their sons and two of their daughters died before their parents. Charlie’s surviving daughter, Eileen Napaltjarri, is also a painter.

Biographical information sourced from Vivien Johnson, Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists. Alice Springs: IAD Press, 2008.

CHARLIE WARTUMA TJUNGURRAYI, Old Man’s Dreaming at Tjurrpungkuntjanya, 1974

Synthetic polymer paint on
composition board.
24 1/16 × 18 1/16 in. (61 × 46 cm).
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection.
Gift of John W. and Maria T. Kluge, 2008.
2008.0003.011.

Charlie Wartuma Tjungurrayi, 1988.

Photo by Fred Myers.

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