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POSSUM TRAVELLING LOVE STORY 1973

MEASUREMENTS

61 by 46 cm

Papunya Tula Artists catalogue number CP730627
Synthetic polymer paint on composition board

PROVENANCE
Painted at Papunya in August-September 1973 Private collection, Victoria
LITERATURE
Bardon, G. and J. Bardon, Papunya, A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004, p.222, painting number 131 Cf. For an extensive discussion of the artist's paintings see Johnson, V., The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Gordon and Breach Arts International, 1994; and Johnson, V., Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2003, 'Possum and Rainbow Snake', 1976, p.29, illus.; see also Bardon and Bardon, 2004, Perkins, H. and H. Fink (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales in association with Papunya Tula Artists, Sydney, 2000; Ryan, J., Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989; and Sutton, P. (ed), Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia Society of Galleries in association with George Braziller / Viking, New York, 1988 Two of the recurring themes in Clifford Possum's paintings are Possum Dreamings and Love Stories. In this painting the central vertical consisting of parallel lines represents the tree in which the Possum lives. The E-shapes represent the Possum's tracks as he wandered across the landscape in search of a female. The brown concentric circles indicate places where the Possum sat down and rested, while the dotted ground of the painting represents the earth. This painting has remained wrapped in the thick clear plastic from the time of purchase, which accounts for its outstanding condition