contemporary art from The Laverty Collection

(c.1910 – 1996) UNTITLED (ALALGURA/EMU COUNTRY), 1989 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 150.0 x 120.5 cm bears inscription verso: artist’s name and Delmore Gallery cat. E013 bears inscription on label verso: Kngwarreye, E / Alalgura – Emu Country / CS ‘98

ESTIMATE: $150,000 – 200,000

PROVENANCE

Commissioned by Delmore Gallery, via Alice Springs in 1989 Coventry Gallery, Sydney Private collection, Sydney Hogarth Galleries, Sydney The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in September 1995

EXHIBITED

Emily Kngwarreye, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, 8 May – 2 June 1990, cat. 7 Southern Reflections – Ten Contemporary Australian Artists, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1998; Kulturhuset (Cultural Centre) Stockholm, Sweden, 1998; Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway, 1999; Göteborgs Konsthall, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1999, cat. 7 Mapping Our Countries, Djamu Gallery, Australian Museum at Customs House, Sydney, 9 October 1999 – 27 February 2000

LITERATURE

Cross, E., Southern Reflections – Ten Contemporary Australian Artists, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1998, cat. 7, p. 21 (illus.) Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2008, pp. 90 (illus.), 339 Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, edition II, Kleimeyer Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2011, pp. 96 (illus.), 389

‘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 the yam and the emu’.1

When describing the first paintings on canvas produced by Kngwarreye such as Untitled (Alalgura/Emu Country), 1989, Judith Ryan sees a connection to, as well as an evolution from her earlier batiks, noting that these canvases ‘retain the linear network as an underlayer or foundation, but the dots that were subsidiary in her batik come to the surface… lines and dots converge in a dense field of irregular textured marks which create a sense of depth.’2 Recorded as E013 in the Delmore Gallery index of works, Untitled (Alalgura/Emu Country) was the second of eight paintings by Emily Kngwarreye produced at Delmore Downs Station in December 1989. One month later, towards the end of January 1990, the painting was consigned for sale at Coventry Gallery in Sydney.3 A significant early work, Untitled (Alalgura/Emu Country), 1989, conveys the artist’s custodial responsibility for the Yam and the Emu, reflecting Kngwarreye’s connection to country and Women’s ceremonies through body painting and dance. Here the tracery of grey and milky white lines signifies the meandering roots of the yam below the earth with the tracks of the travelling emu above moving between nesting sites. The underlying linear pattern is submerged by in a profusion of overlapping dots painted in a limited palette of ochres (red, yellow and white), together with soft blues and pinks. Fundamentally, this work depicts the relationship between the emu and country. Beneath the soil the bush yam is ready for digging, while above, there is a flurry of movement as the male emu moves across the landscape feeding on various seeds, simultaneously shepherding his chicks into areas where the yam thrives.

From the very beginning ‘Emily Kngwarreye was noticeable for the dedication and passion which she applied herself… her work stood out for its spontaneity and verve’4,and her legacy in the history of twentieth century Australian art cannot be overstated. The body of work produced in the final stage of her life radically altered the way in which we view and appreciate modern Aboriginal art. Stemming from a lifetime of making art, where the visual and performative aspects are as important as language, her paintings reveal a deep affinity to country and a devotion to women’s ceremony in song, dance and the ceremonial painting of bodies. Celebrating the ever-changing seasonal variations in her homeland of Alhalker and the related spiritual and domestic obligations to country, Kngwarreye’s painting demonstrates the interconnectedness of life, landscape and culture.

1. Isaacs, J., ‘Anmatyerre Woman’ in Emily Kngwarreye Paintings, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1998, p. 12 2. Ryan, J., ‘Emily Kngwarreye in the National Gallery of Victoria’ in Emily Kngwarreye

Paintings, ibid., p. 79 3. Information from the Delmore Gallery database, provided by Janet Holt, October 2022 4. Jenny Green cited in Hart, D., Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Paintings from 1989 – 1995, exhibition catalogue, Parliament House, Canberra, 1995, n.p.

CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE

(c.1922 – 2007) MENDOOWOORRJI – MEDICINE POCKET, 2005 ochres and pigments with synthetic binder on linen 150.0 x 180.0 cm signed with initials verso: PB bears inscription verso: date and Jirrawun Arts cat. PB8-2005-234

ESTIMATE: $140,000 – 160,000

PROVENANCE

Jirrawun Arts, Kununurra, Western Australia The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in August 2005

EXHIBITED

Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 6 December 2006 – 15 April 2007, and touring, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 12 May – 22 July 2007; Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 11 August – 16 September 2007; University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 16 November 2007 – 1 March 2008

LITERATURE

Storer, R., Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006, pp. 114 (illus.), 158 Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2008, pp. 233 (illus.), 343 Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, edition II, Kleimeyer Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2011, pp. 246, 247 (illus.), 394

Crafting his own unique representations of country, the paintings of Paddy Bedford evoke rocky escarpments, rivers and other amorphous features of the Kimberley landscape, whilst at the same time containing a learned and poetical knowledge of the land and its creation stories. His formal language is characterised by a symbiotic relationship between bold forms and an elegant, balanced composition. While Bedford’s earlier work engaged the use of natural ochres to depict his environment, his later work employed a more restrained and pared-back palette, initially using only black and white, but later incorporating grey and pink washes, applied to canvas before the previously administered layer of paint had dried, a process known as ‘wet on wet’.

Paddy Bedford (c.1922 – 2007), also known as Goowoomji-Nyunkuny in his own Gija language, is one of the most important Indigenous Australian artists. Painting his first works on left-over building materials in 1998, aged 75, he soon became recognised as an innovator and influential artist through his unique depictions of East Kimberley history, and for evolving the artistic tradition forged earlier by Rover Thomas and Paddy Jaminji.

Mendoowoorrji – Medicine Pocket, 2005 refers to the stretch of hills between Thoonbi and Thoowoonggoonarrin, to the south-east of Bedford Downs. Medicine Pocket was an important camping area pre-colonisation because of its ‘living water’. This region is replete with brooks and waterways flowing through open land and bordered by hills. Like so much of his work, our painting conveys Bedford’s intricate knowledge of his country, its features, topography, and sacred narratives. This land belongs to the artist’s mother’s dreaming, where in mythological times two men fought with sticks and became part of the landscape at Wanggarnaban (the place where Wanggarnal the crow camped, when she was a woman in the dreaming or Ngarranggarni in gija language). Bedford recalled ‘Mendoowoorr country is not far, the country they call Mendoowoorrji. My uncles (my mother’s brothers) were all Mendoowoorr country owners. They have all died now. They are all buried now. It is alright, the country belongs to me now. That is why I can paint this country, because of my old people.’1

This painting was purchased by Colin and Liz Laverty directly from Jirrawun Arts, Kununurra in late August 2005 soon after it was finished. Paddy Bedford and Colin and Liz Laverty had formed a strong friendship very early on in the artist’s career, with the Laverty’s acquiring his first four recorded paintings made on discarded scraps of plywood in September 1998. During the following decade they acquired another 35 paintings by the artist, often having the opportunity to purchase works prior to exhibition. Paintings and gouaches by Paddy Bedford held in the Laverty collection have been loaned regularly to survey and other exhibitions featuring Bedford in Australia, and internationally.

In 2006, Paddy Bedford’s oeuvre was honoured with a grand retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney where this work was displayed. Bedford’s first international retrospective exhibition took place in 2009 at the Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal art in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Since then, his work has been on display at several exhibitions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne.

1. The artist in conversation with Frances Kofod, in Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary

Art, Sydney, 2007, p. 134

CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE

MIRDIDINGKINGATHI JUWARNDA SALLY GABORI

(c.1924 – 2015) DIBIRDIBI COUNTRY, 2009 synthetic polymer paint on linen 198.0 x 102.5 cm bears inscription verso: artist’s name, title, medium and Mornington Island Arts and Crafts cat. 4304–L–SG–0509

ESTIMATE: $18,000 – 25,000

PROVENANCE

Painted in 2009 on Mornington Island for Mornington Island Arts and Crafts Raft Artspace, Darwin The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in September 2009

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EXHIBITED

Sally Gabori – a new language in paint, Raft Artspace, Darwin, 13 August – 5 September 2009, cat. 3 Laverty 2, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, New South Wales, 14 May – 14 August 2011

LITERATURE

Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, edition II, Kleimeyer Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2011, pp. 377 (illus.), 395

MIRDIDINGKINGATHI JUWARNDA SALLY GABORI

(c.1924 – 2015) DIBIRDIBI COUNTRY, 2009 synthetic polymer paint on linen 198.0 x 102.5 cm bears inscription verso: artist’s name, title, medium and Mornington Island Arts and Crafts cat. 4206–L–SG–0409

ESTIMATE: $18,000 – 25,000

PROVENANCE

Painted in 2009 on Mornington Island for Mornington Island Arts and Crafts Raft Artspace, Darwin The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in September 2009

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EXHIBITED

Laverty 2, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, New South Wales, 14 May – 14 August 2011 The Colin and Elizabeth Laverty collection – a selection of Indigenous and non–Indigenous art exhibition, Geelong Gallery, Victoria, 18 February – 15 April 2012

LITERATURE

Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, edition II, Kleimeyer Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2011, pp. 382 (illus.), 395

(1927 – 2022) UNTITLED (CARLTON CAFÉ KITCHEN), 1969 oil on composition board 86.5 x 61.0 cm

ESTIMATE: $20,000 – 30,000

PROVENANCE

Watters Gallery, Sydney The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney, acquired from the above in July 1987 Deutscher and Hackett, Sydney, 5 April 2017, lot 66 The Laverty Collection, Sydney

EXHIBITED

The Colin and Elizabeth Laverty collection – a selection of Indigenous and non–Indigenous art exhibition, Geelong Gallery, Victoria, 18 February – 15 April 2012

Untitled (Carlton Café Kitchen), 1969 was acquired in 1987 by the celebrated art connoisseurs, Colin and Elizabeth Laverty who frequently selected numerous works by an artist with the aim of charting his or her development. Ken Whisson was a particular favourite, and at one time the Laverty collection would have held around a dozen or more examples of his works spanning his career.

Like many Whisson collectors, they began with his mid-career paintings and then worked back to acquire earlier examples, many of which had remained unsold prior to the mid-1970s when the artist first began to achieve commercial success. The present example is perhaps one of the earliest in their collection. Collecting Whisson’s paintings was largely driven by Elizabeth rather than Colin – who had a particular predilection for abstract art. Elizabeth was the figurative arm of the collecting duo and in view of this it is not surprising that their two sensibilities should find common ground on the surface of Whisson’s work, for few artists tread the line between pure abstraction and figuration with the dexterity of Ken Whisson. The present example is untitled as Whisson wants his audience to approach the painting with a completely open mind. He encourages us to discover the painting the way he did – to appreciate its painterly forms and colour values as they evolved on the surface. In this instance, as a concession to the viewer he offers a secondary title included in parenthesis, ‘Carlton Café Kitchen’. It is tempting to construct a reading around this, and why not? The interior as he depicts it is stark and minimal, the surface is divided by upper and lower slabs of colour. Within the space which we assume to be a café, two figures gyrate in typical Whisson fashion. One figure appears to be behind the black square, possibly a counter or stove – perhaps cooking, with the dark form above a plume of smoke. The second figure approaches the counter, possibly as a customer or fellow worker in the café’s kitchen. The real contrast and the substance of the work is the opposing treatments between the organic flesh forms of the humans and the rigid architecture of the workplace.

In the late 1960s, Whisson returned from abroad and moved into the bohemian suburb of Carlton. Untitled (Carlton Café Kitchen) was painted at time when the suburb had rich migrant community – jazz music, discussion about art and politics, and anti-Vietnam war sentiment filled the air. Cafes and speakeasies were the natural places for political discourse, and therefore for a political junkie such a Whisson, it follows that these places would be a natural subject for the artist. Any politics, be they local or international, about art and science were central to Whisson’s life and work and accordingly, he would have been a regular voice at rallies gathering and debates – willing to take on even the most passionate adversary with his fever pitch beliefs.

Whisson’s works from this period are not for the faint hearted; they are rigorous, uncompromising propositions that challenge the viewer to set aside preconceived ideas about what a painting should be and instead, to wrestle them towards the fantastic, uncharted world of what a painting could be.

HENRY MULHOLLAND

RICHARD LARTER

(1929 – 2014) L.C.H (LA COMÉDIE HUMAINE) NO. 3, 1963 synthetic polymer paint on composition board 91.5 x 122.0 cm signed with initials and dated lower left: RL 63 signed and inscribed with title verso: R.A.S. $400.00 / The Human Image / Title “L.C.H. No. 3” / R. Larter, Lot 2 Bringelly / Rd., / L V D DENHAM / N.S.W

ESTIMATE: $8,000 – 12,000

PROVENANCE

Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in June 1991

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EXHIBITED

Richard Larter – Paintings, Watters Gallery, Sydney, 9 – 26 July 1969, cat. 6 Good Grief! Richard Larter in Canberra Ever!, Abraxas Gallery, Canberra, 28 May – 15 June 1975, cat. 1 Stuart Gerstman Galleries, Melbourne, 6 March – April 1984 An Exhibition At Two Venues To Celebrate Richard Larter’s Seventieth Birthday, Watters Gallery, Sydney, 4 – 22 May 1999, cat. 7

LITERATURE

Catalano, G., ‘The earlier paintings of Richard Larter’, Art and Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, vol. 11, no. 1, July – September 1973, p. 70 (illus.)

DICK WATKINS

born 1937 EPISTROPHY, 1973 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 122.0 x 162.5 cm signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: “EPISTROPHY” ⁄ DICK WATKINS ⁄ 1973

ESTIMATE: $12,000 – 18,000

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PROVENANCE

David Bluford, Sydney The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in December 1986

AIDA TOMESCU

born 1955 HEARTLAND I, 2015 oil on canvas 101.5 x 76.5 cm signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: Aida Tomescu / ‘Heartland I’, 2015 / oil on canvas

ESTIMATE: $12,000 – 18,000

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PROVENANCE

Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney (label attached verso) The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in November 2015

EXHIBITED

Eyes in the Heat, Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, 7 – 28 November 2015, cat. 11 (illus. in exhibition catalogue)

LITERATURE

Wolff, S., ‘Eyes in the Heat’, The Art Life, 17 November 2015 [https://theartlife.com.au/2015/ eyes-in-the-heat-2/] (accessed 21/06/22)

PETER BOOTH

born 1940 PAINTING, 1984 oil on linen 61.5 x 96.5 cm signed and dated verso: BOOTH 1984

ESTIMATE: $18,000 – 24,000

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PROVENANCE

Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in December 1984

RELATED WORK

Painting 1984, 1984, oil on canvas, 198.0 x 305.0 cm, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, illus. in Smith, J., Peter Booth Human Nature, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2003, cat. 34, p. 72

LOUISE WEAVER

born 1966 WHEN I DANCE WITH YOU I GET IDEAS, 2002 hand crocheted cotton synthetic fibre, cotton and silk embroidery thread, paillettes, glass beads, aluminium settings and jet 50.0 x 70.0 x 25.0 cm

ESTIMATE: $10,000 – 15,000

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PROVENANCE

Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in October 2002

EXHIBITED

Darren Knight Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, 2 – 6 October 2002

GWYN HANSSEN PIGOTT

(1935 – 2013) SILENT STILL LIFE, 1994/2012 woodfired porcelain seven pieces (three bottles, two beakers and two bowls) rearranged by the artist, 2012 32.0 x 68.0 x 16.0 cm (overall) each stamped at base with the artist’s roundel

ESTIMATE: $12,000 – 18,000

PROVENANCE

Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney The Laverty Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in March 1995

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EXHIBITED

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott. Recent Work, Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney, 4 – 29 April 1995 (illus. on exhibition catalogue cover in former 8–piece arrangement) Singular Views, Dowse Art Museum, New Zealand, 11 July – 18 October 1998, cat. 1 (in former 8–piece arrangement) Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: A Survey, 1955 – 2005, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 4 November 2005 – 19 March 2006, cat. 100 (in former 8–piece arrangement)

LITERATURE

McDonald, J., ‘Arts’, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 29 April 1995, p. 16A (illus., in former 8– piece arrangement) Lewis, R., ‘Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: Recent Work’, Object, Sydney, no. 3/4, 1995, p. 35 (illus., in former 8–piece arrangement) West, M., ‘The Feminine: Five Patterns’, Object, Sydney, no. 4, 1998, p. 55 (illus., in former 8–piece arrangement) Smith, J., Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: A Survey, 1955 – 2005, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2005, cat. 100, pp. 63 (illus.), 108 (in former 8–piece arrangement)