The Collection of the Late Ian Dunlop, Canberra
Lot 209
Neville NaraldolCrocodile, c.1970
3 December 2025, 14:00 AEDT
SydneyAU$600 - AU$900
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Alex Clark
Head of Sale, Senior Specialist
Merryn Schriever
Managing Director, Australia
Neville Naraldol
Crocodile, c.1970
natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
130.0 x 31.0cm (51 3/16 x 12 3/16in).
natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
130.0 x 31.0cm (51 3/16 x 12 3/16in).
Footnotes
PROVENANCE
Oenpelli, Northern Territory (accompanied by typed label)
possibly, Macquarie University, Sydney
The Collection of the Late Ian Dunlop, Canberra
EXHIBITED
possibly, Western Arnhem Land Bark Paintings, Macquarie University, Sydney, September 1978, cat. 2
The original typed label which accompanies this work reads:
'Throughout Western Arnhem Land great rocky escarpments rise dramatically from the surrounding plains. In the caves which abound in the escarpments, and on sheltered rock surfaces, can be found unique rock galleries which are famous as the most extensive and possibly the oldest galleries in the world. Goannas, fish, birds, spiny anteaters, turtles and other creatures of the wild are the main subjects, together with the tiny Mimi spirits which inhabit the escarpments.
The Mimis sleep inside rocks by day, and at night blow holes in the rocks to emerge so that they can fish and hunt, dance and sing and play until dawn, when they retire within the rocks, pulling the doors shut after them.
All of the creatures and spirits have also been painted on bark from trees, and these paintings are much sought after because of their unique quality and simplicity, and because they are reproductions of the oldest art form known to man, that of rock art.
As well as the outside shape, the internal structure of the species is usually shown, so that the name "X-ray art" has been applied by anthropologists to Western Arnhem Land art. An alternative to X-ray is the artist's clan design on the body of the creature.'