Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri

Mitukatjirri (formerly Men’s Corroboree)

1971-72

Previously titled Men’s Corroboree, this painting is almost certainly a depiction of the Tingarri Tjukurrpa at one of Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri’s most important sites, Mitukatjirri, where the Tingarri men erected sacred objects to reveal to the Punyunyu (Novices) under their authority. Mick Namarari shared authority over this site with Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula, who often painted the nearby and related site of Ilingawurrngawurrnga. Mick Namarari’s painting is interesting for his attempt to depict the interior space of the cave at Mitukatjirri as well as the larger site itself. The painting of this subject was likely motivated by the artist’s 1972 trip from Papunya with anthropologist Jeremy Long and filmmaker Roger Sandall. Mick Namarari was one of a group of men filmed by Sandall performing the ceremony at Mitukatjirri—a ritual that had not been undertaken in a generation.
HENRY SKERRITT & FRED MYERS

I was an older man when I was at Papunya... I was living there a long time and became an old man. I was living there and we used to go to Yuendumu with man-making ceremonial groups. After the ceremony was finished we would come back again.

MICK NAMARARI TJAPALTJARRI

Language Group: Pintupi
Dates: c. 1927-1998

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri was one of the founding artists at Papunya. When the painting movement started in 1971, Mick Namarari’s work immediately stood out, as it signaled a departure from the traditional iconography of Pintupi painting, which included concentric circles and lines. He developed an abstract style on more expansive canvases, using striking undotted lines in his designs. In addition to varied stylistic approaches, he also had a diverse range of subjects, such as the site of Tjunginpa and a Dingo Tjukurrpa site at Nyumanu, southeast of Kintore. In 1991 he won the National Aboriginal Art Award and in 1994 he was awarded co-winner of the Alice Prize and inaugural winner of the Red Ochre Award. Throughout his career, he made over 700 paintings. After his passing, two of Mick Namarari's children, Angelina Nungarrayi and Peter Tjungurrayi, started painting in a style reminiscent of their father’s. In 2017 Mick Namarari was given a solo retrospective titled The Mysteries that Remain at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. He is the subject of a major monograph, The Master from Marnpi, by Alec O'Halloran.

MICK NAMARARI TJAPALTJARRI, Mitukatjirri (formerly Men’s Corroboree), 1971-72

Synthetic polymer paint on composition board. 25 3/16 × 18 3/16 in. (64.0 × 46.2 cm). Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997. 1991.0021.021.

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