Lot 36
Emily Kame Kngwarreye(1910-1996)Endunga, 1990
2 December 2025, 18:00 AEDT
SydneyAU$150,000 - AU$250,000
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Alex Clark
Head of Sale, Senior Specialist
Merryn Schriever
Managing Director, Australia
Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-1996)
Endunga, 1990
inscribed verso with artist's name, date and Delmore Gallery cat. OG19
synthetic polymer paint on linen
121.0 x 91.0cm (47 5/8 x 35 13/16in).
inscribed verso with artist's name, date and Delmore Gallery cat. OG19
synthetic polymer paint on linen
121.0 x 91.0cm (47 5/8 x 35 13/16in).
Footnotes
PROVENANCE
Delmore Gallery, Alice Springs (cat. OG19)
Coventry Gallery, Sydney
Private collection, New South Wales
Sotheby's, Sydney, 15 October 2012, lot 19
The Sarick Collection, Canada
This lot has been granted a Certificate of Exemption under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986.
EXHIBITED
Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, 8 May - 2 June 1990
Emily Kngwarreye's career as a painter commenced only in her final decades; her visual language informed by her long and creative life as an Anmatyerre woman. The subject of this work is Endunga, a species of wild grass endemic to her country. Painted only two years into the artist's practice on canvas, the work is clearly informed by her experiences producing rich and layered batik works on silk and cotton over the prior 13 years with Utopia Batik. As noted by Jenny Green of this period, 'Kngwarray painted with great speed and intensity and the strength of her arms and hands... is apparent in the rhythmic, confident marks she made... echoes of batik style and process are apparent in these early works on canvas.'1
Embedded within the reedy strands of endunga weaves the branching roots of the Atnulare yam, an important food source for the Anmatyerre people of the Northern Territory of Australia. The rich cacophony of dusty yellows, greens and rusty red dotting representing the fruit and seeds (Ntang) of the grasses and yam roots.
Emily Kngwarreye's work explores the entangled subterranean plant life through each season of its cycle, her knowledge and ability to find and identify wild desert food marking her as a figure of senior custodial importance. This relationship with the flora and cyclical patterns of life in Kngwarreye's country is so enmeshed in identity that the artist's name, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, contains 'Kame', referencing the flower of the yam plant which blooms after the rains. As noted by Jennifer Issacs in her monograph on the artist (1998) 'All the paintings of Emily Kngwarreye, so spectacular and diverse in style, express a central theme - that of her identification with the earth and land itself: Anmatyerre country, the country of yam and emu.'
The artist's childhood experiences of her country before European presence, the last generation to live a life of seasonal movement and unrestricted cultural practices, form an important foundation for her work as an artist. Kngwarreye powerfully referred to her paintings as being about 'merne,' a word which captures notions of abundance. Almost three decades since the artist's passing, her works continue to resonate, informed by the richness and beauty of the artist's deep wisdom and culture.
1. Jenny Green, Emily Kam Kngwarray, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2023, p. 157
Merryn Schriever