Seminal Aboriginal paintings from DAF collection provide research platform for Cornell University

12/23/2017

Saskia and I knew these two Aboriginal  paintings by Clifford Possum and Tim Laura were made during a significant juncture in Aboriginal painting, but without a knowledge of the genre, culture and landscape, we could not support the works in their full potential. 

Saskia and I knew these two Aboriginal  paintings by Clifford Possum and Tim Laura were made during a significant juncture in Aboriginal painting, but without a knowledge of the genre, culture and landscape, we could not support the works in their full potential. 

We jumped at the opportunity to loan the works to the Herbert F Johnson Museum of Cornell University so that they could be activated in an international collection, with a large research team and it was a joy to receive news that Cornell has spent considerable time focusing on the artworks. 

The paintings have sparked debates about how contemporary indigenous art is marketed, presented, and taught and have been an integral part of seminars detailing the the unique intersection they represent between millennia-old unbroken Aboriginal culture and the contemporary art world.

The professors and curators at Cornell University have provided further insight into the paintings that we will add to our files at the DAF and will help us exhibit the works with a more critical understanding.

Curator, Andy Weislogal says of Tim Leura's work:

This is a transitional work revealing an amalgamation of two differing techniques from two distinct periods in the artist's career. It is a perfect illustration of Tim Leura’s solution to the confrontational nature of presenting ceremonial and ceremonial objects early in the movement; the mottled dotting/shadowing which acts as an infill between the compositional elements is something that began to take off around the late 1973 early 1974 period as Tim sought to disguise ceremonial elements to make the pictures suitable for viewing by all.
The two paintings are seminal early works from great masters Clifford Possum and Tim Leura and have allowed Cornell to research where the movement has gone in the intervening forty or so years.