Mawalan Marika Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Mawalan Marika Art Value Price Guide

Mar. 25, 2026
Mawalan Marika, Milŋiyawuy; The Milky Way, c.1958
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Mawalan Marika (c.1908 - 1967) Milŋiyawuy; The Milky Way, c.1958 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 140.0 x 39.5 cm (irregular) bears inscription verso: artist’s name bears inscription on obscured label attached verso: artist’s name, date, location and story PROVENANCE Painted at Yirrkala, North-East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, c.1958 Private collection, Melbourne Sotheby's, Sydney, 13 May 2010, lot 86 Private collection, Melbourne RELATED WORK Milŋiyawuy; The Milky Way, pre. 1966, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark, 92.0 x 35.5 cm, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia, USA, illus. in: Wanambi, W., Skerritt H., and McDonald, K., (eds.), Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia and DelMonico books, Virginia and New York, 2022, p. 171 ESSAY The patriarch of a distinguished artistic dynasty – including his brother Mathaman, his son Wandjuk, his daughters Banduk and Dhuwarrwarr (notably, Mawalan broke with convention as one of the first Indigenous artists to teach his daughters to paint), and his brother-in-law Munggurrawuy Yunupiŋu – Mawalan Marika was the senior Rirratjingu ceremonial and community leader of the Dhuwa moiety clans of the Yolŋu people in north-east Arnhem Land. A steadfast advocate for Yolŋu law and cultural continuity, particularly in the wake of expanding European influence following the establishment of the Yirrkala Mission in 1935, Mawalan played a instrumental role in several significant negotiations between the Yolŋu and the broader Australian community. In the 1940s, he produced a remarkable series of 365 crayon drawings for the anthropologists, Ronald Berndt and Catherine Berndt, who were researching Yolŋu culture and society. He was also a signatory to the landmark Yirrkala bark petitions presented to Federal Parliament in August 1963, and the leading Dhuwa moiety artist responsible for the painting of the Yirrkala Church Panels that same year. In 1959 and 1960, after being approached by the deputy director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Tony Tuckson, and Dr Stuart Scougall, Mawalan oversaw the production of a series of large-scale bark paintings for the Gallery. A rare monumental example of his work, Milŋiyawuy; The Milky Way, c.1958, carries a dual meaning. It depicts the mayaŋ’ (river) of stars that stretches across the night sky – known in English as ‘the Milky Way’ – while also referring to a mayaŋ’ on earth that flows into northern Blue Mud Bay.1 The constellations of Milŋiyawuy form a pathway for ancestral spirits and a celestial reflection of terrestrial life, encompassing ceremonies, canoes, and waters teeming with fish and other creatures. Thus, the painting simultaneously references earthly places and their parallel existence in the sky. According to the traditions of the Rirratjingu and related Dhuwa clans, the composition illustrates the story of two brothers who were fishing in their bark canoe when it capsized in a strong wind. One brother’s body washed ashore, while the other sank beneath the water (lower left). The crocodile Baru, searching for food, detected the scent of the brother on the beach. Ultimately, the two brothers and Baru ascended into the night sky, becoming constellations (centre right). Nearby, a group of Possum ancestors conducting a ceremony – men playing the didjeridu and clapsticks as women danced – saw the newly formed stars and likewise ascended into the heavens (top right). They were joined by the ancestral Native Cat, the submerged canoe, and the Scorpion, who was once a man. All were transformed into constellations. In the upper left, two star-filled bags extending from the Milky Way are known as Djulpan: the triangular bag is male, and the elliptical bag female. 1. Morphy, H. et al., ‘Milŋiyawuy; The Milky Way’ in Wanambi, W., Skerritt, H., and McDonald, K. (eds.), Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, Delmonico Books/Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, Virginia, 2022, p. 168 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency 2026
Deutscher and Hackett
Dec. 03, 2025
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967) Mururuma Story (Djangkawu), 1960s
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967) Mururuma Story (Djangkawu), 1960s natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 107.0 x 62.0cm (42 1/8 x 24 7/16in).
Bonhams
Dec. 02, 2025
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967) Nativity Scene, c.1964
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967) Nativity Scene, c.1964 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 109.5 x 33.5cm (43 1/8 x 13 3/16in).
Bonhams
Dec. 02, 2025
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967) Untitled, 1960
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967) Untitled, 1960 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 99.0 x 31.0cm (39 x 12 3/16in).
Bonhams
Oct. 21, 2025
MAWALAN MARIKA (c.1908-1967) (Language group: Rirratjingu) Djunkowa (Djang'kawa) Ceremony Yurlunggurr's (Yulengor) Sacred Waterhole..
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (c.1908-1967) (Language group: Rirratjingu) Djunkowa (Djang'kawa) Ceremony Yurlunggurr's (Yulengor) Sacred Waterhole 1957 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark inscribed verso with artist's name 97 x 48cm PROVENANCE: Painted at Yirrkala, Arnhem Land The Collection of Sandra Le Brun Holmes Private collection, Victoria OTHER NOTES: © Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency, 2025
Leonard Joel
Aug. 12, 2025
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967), Untitled
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) Untitled natural earth pigments on bark bears cat no.'s 1287-L and 11957IIR verso bears artists name inscribed verso 133.5 x 45.5cm
Gibson's
Jun. 24, 2025
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) (Language group: Rirratjingu) Djan'Kawu at Yalangbara c.1961 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 11..
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) (Language group: Rirratjingu) Djan'Kawu at Yalangbara c.1961 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 116 x 44cm PROVENANCE: Dorothy Bennett for Australian Aboriginal Art Trust, Darwin (label attached verso) Private collection, Adelaide Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 301 Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne (label attached verso, stock no. 220128) Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 14 October 2009, lot 33 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: Annual Collectors' Exhibition 2008, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1 October - 8 November 2008, cat. no. 19 An Individual Perspective: From The Indigenous Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, 25 February - 4 April 2009 LITERATURE: Diggins, L., (ed.), An Individual Perspective: From The Indigenous Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, p. 12 (illus.) OTHER NOTES: "This is one of the dances performed in a sacred ceremony The Djungguan. The Wawilak [sic] Sisters wandered throughout Arnhem Land naming plants, animals and fish, reptiles and places, killing many animals and fish. When they arrived at well of Mirrirmina (rock pythons back) they made a fire and threw the food on to it but immediately everything came to life and ran into the sacred well and thus becoming totemic emblems. Yurlungurr the giant python came out of the well and swallowed the Wawilak Sisters. In a desperate attempt to avoid themselves from being swallowed the sisters had sung and danced all the taboo songs and dances they could think of starting with the crab dance as the crab had been the first to jump from the fire and run sideways down to the well. Yurlungurr took the sisters back through the [subterranean] waters beneath the well to their own country and regurgitated them onto dry land. They appeared in a dream to two Wongar men and told them that all the people must dance the same dances and sing the same songs as they had before being swallowed and these were to be performed at the time of the circumcision rites. Each sister had had a baby with her at the well and had intended to circumcise them but now they passed on instructions to the men to do this for them. Here two men representing the Wongar mythological figures dance with woomeras and spears around a sacred well. Goannas shown represent one of the totems of the artist handed down to him by his father." (Inscribed on label verso) © Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency, 2025
Leonard Joel
May. 17, 2025
MARIKA Mawalan (1908-1967), 'Buffalo Hunt,' 1958., Natural Earth Pigments on Eucalyptus Bark, 26.5x47cm
Est: $800 - $1,500
MARIKA, Mawalan (1908-1967) 'Buffalo Hunt,' 1958. Bears Dorothy Bennett Collection number 28 and catalogue number E27 together with further documentation on label on reverse. Natural Earth Pigments on Eucalyptus Bark 26.5x47cm PROVENANCE: Collection Mr H & Mrs P Wallace, Sydney. OTHER NOTES: According to the accompanying documentation this painting was collected at Yirrkala in 1958. The documentation reads in part: 'Mawalan the leader of the Riratjingu (sic) tribe has painted a bushland event the hunt for wild buffalo. These animals were introduced to the mainland by the earliest English settlers in 1824 and when they left their garrisons some four years later riddled with malaria and their numbers decimated by spear attacks they let the domesticated buffaloes of south east Asia run wild. The buffaloes wandered from their original landing place on the Coburg Peninsula and are now entrenched in the vastness of the Australian bush although an eradication program is now in progress because of the alleged harming of the ecology by these animals'.
Davidson Auctions
Oct. 22, 2024
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) (Language group: Rirratjingu) Djan'Kawu at Yalangbara c.1961 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 11...
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) (Language group: Rirratjingu) Djan'Kawu at Yalangbara c.1961 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 116 x 44cm PROVENANCE: Dorothy Bennett for Australian Aboriginal Art Trust, Darwin (label attached verso) Private collection, Adelaide Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 301 Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne (label attached verso, stock no. 220128) Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 14 October 2009, lot 33 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: Annual Collectors' Exhibition 2008, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1 October - 8 November 2008, cat. no. 19 An Individual Perspective: From The Indigenous Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, 25 February - 4 April 2009 LITERATURE: Diggins, L., (ed.), An Individual Perspective: From The Indigenous Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, p. 12 (illus.) OTHER NOTES: "This is one of the dances performed in a sacred ceremony The Djungguan. The Wawilak [sic] Sisters wandered throughout Arnhem Land naming plants, animals and fish, reptiles and places, killing many animals and fish. When they arrived at well of Mirrirmina (rock pythons back) they made a fire and threw the food on to it but immediately everything came to life and ran into the sacred well and thus becoming totemic emblems. Yurlungurr the giant python came out of the well and swallowed the Wawilak Sisters. In a desperate attempt to avoid themselves from being swallowed the sisters had sung and danced all the taboo songs and dances they could think of starting with the crab dance as the crab had been the first to jump from the fire and run sideways down to the well. Yurlungurr took the sisters back through the [subterranean] waters beneath the well to their own country and regurgitated them onto dry land. They appeared in a dream to two Wongar men and told them that all the people must dance the same dances and sing the same songs as they had before being swallowed and these were to be performed at the time of the circumcision rites. Each sister had had a baby with her at the well and had intended to circumcise them but now they passed on instructions to the men to do this for them. Here two men representing the Wongar mythological figures dance with woomeras and spears around a sacred well. Goannas shown represent one of the totems of the artist handed down to him by his father." (Inscribed on label verso) © Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency, 2024
Leonard Joel
Jun. 23, 2024
MIRAKA MALAWAN, Shark, natural pigments on bark, 38 x 69 cm. (14.9 x 27.1 in.)
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
MIRAKA MALAWAN Shark natural pigments on bark unsigned
Lawsons
Sep. 05, 2023
MAWALAN MARIKA 1908-1967
Est: $1,200 - $1,800
"Untitled - Snakes" c1970s Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark. 97 x 35cm Provenance: Leonard Joel Lot 321 LJ8159 26/02/2017. With original sales receipt.
McKenzies Auctioneers
Jan. 30, 2023
Mawalan Marika, , Djumbaru - Thunder Man circa 1960's, Ochre on Eucalyptus bark
Est: $150 - $250
Mawalan Marika Djumbaru - Thunder Man circa 1960's Ochre on Eucalyptus bark
Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers
Dec. 07, 2022
Attribué à MARIKA Malawan (Rirratjingu) 1908-1967 Sans titre Ocre naturelle sur écorce d'eucalyptus
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Attribué à MARIKA Malawan (Rirratjingu) 1908-1967 Sans titre Ocre naturelle sur écorce d'eucalyptus h: 52 w: 35,50 cm Provenance : Yirrkala (Territoire du nord) Collection Massimo Campigli, Saint-Tropez Collection privée, France, par descendance Commentaire : Ochre on eucalyptus bark Pour une peinture similaire il faut se référer au mythe Djan'kawu (1959) présenté au musée de la nouvelle Galles du sud. Dans les temps du rêve, un homme et ses deux sœurs ont pagayé à bord d'un canoé depuis une île éloignée pour arriver en Australie à Yalangbara. Ces trois personnes sont les ancêtres des aborigènes dans cette région. La peinture montre les vagues de l'océan et décrit les exploits accomplis par eux lors de leur traversée. Mawalan était un très important maître de cérémonie et un grand homme politique très sceptique sur les activités des compagnies minières australiennes. C'est un artiste très respecté et collectionné par les institutions tel que le musée de la nouvelle Galles du sud. Il a été le sujet d'un film de 1981 : " en mémoire de Malawan ". Des fissures et des trous de clous sont présents sur l'écorce qui a dû être fixée sur un contreplaqué (Masonite board). For a similar painting refer to Art Gallery of New South Wales collection Djan'kawu myth circa 1959. These are clan designs associated with the Creation Story. In the Dreamtime, a man and two sisters paddled a canoe from a faraway island and landed on the mainland of Australia at Yalangbara. These three people are the primary ancestral creation ancestors of all living aboriginal people in the region. The painting suggests the ocean waves and refers to the ancestor's exploits along their sea voyage. Mawalan was a very important ceremonial and political leader that was highly skeptical of Australian mining company actives. Highly respected artist and widely collected by Institutions such as the Art Gallery of NSW. He was the subject of a film In Memory of Mawalan, 1981. Cracks and nail holes are present suggesting that the board was previously attached to Masonite. Estimation 2 000 - 3 000 €
Artcurial
Aug. 31, 2021
MAWALAN MARIKA, WAGILAG STORY (SNAKES AND FISH), C.1965
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (c.1908 - 1967) WAGILAG STORY (SNAKES AND FISH), c.1965 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 46.0 x 110.0 cm bears artist’s biography and a description of the story attached verso PROVENANCE Painted in the Yirrkala region, Northern Territory, in the mid-1960s Collection of Thomas Vroom, The Netherlands Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 26 February 2017, lot 321 (as ‘Artist Unknown’) Grant Smith collection, Melbourne This work is located at our Melbourne gallery © Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency 2021
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 18, 2021
MARIKA MAWALAN (1908-1967) Untitled - Fish 1966
Est: $500 - $800
MARIKA MAWALAN (1908-1967) Untitled - Fish 1966 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark inscribed verso: Mawalan 1966 48 x 27cm PROVENANCE Jim Davidson Aboriginal & Pacific Art, Melbourne
Gibson's
Mar. 17, 2021
MAWALAN MARIKA, SYDNEY, c.1962
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (c.1908 – 1967) SYDNEY, c.1962 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 121.0 x 27.0 cm (irregular) bears inscription verso: title ‘Sydney’, Location 'Melville Bay', language group 'Riratjinga' together with a description of the story depicted on old label PROVENANCE Painted in the Yirrkala region of North–East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, c.1960 Gary Bradley, Victoria Thence by descent Private collection, Victoria EXHIBITED Open Air: Portraits in the Landscape, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 3 December 2008 – 1 March 2009 LITERATURE Sayers, A, Engledow, S., and Caruana, W., Open Air: Portraits in the Landscape, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2008, p. 14 (illus.) ESSAY Mawalan Marika was one of the exceptional ceremonial leaders of his generation who witnessed the encroachment of foreigners onto his country and bridged the gap between Aboriginal and European Australian societies. His main medium was art. An innovative and highly influential artist, he painted countless ancestral and ceremonial images, as well as taking a lead role in the painting of the renowned Yirrkala Church Panels in 1963. Mawalan also used painting as a means to record his personal experiences in a changing world and Sydney, c.1962, is one of the few autobiographical works that records his visit to a large urban centre. In fact, Mawalan was one of the first Yolngu to travel interstate when, in 1961, he flew to Sydney to participate in the exhibition Art from Arnhem Land at Qantas House. Mawalan recorded this extraordinary experience in a number of bark paintings. One, in the collection of the National Museum of Australia, depicts Sydney from the air.1 Buildings, houses, roads and the profile of Sydney harbour must have presented an awe-inspiring view for the artist who had not travelled further than the ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory. Another bark painting features two rows of people walking along opposite sides of a street in a rectangular matrix of clan designs, dotted lights and windows.2 Sydney, painted in or about 1962, offers a more arresting expression of the artist in a large, bustling city full of people and big buildings, quite the opposite of the small community of Yirrkala in north east Arnhem Land that was his home at the time. Mawalan’s painting features a throng of people wearing hats walking along streets lined with bright lights. The images are arranged in a conventional Yolngu compositional grid, where the lines of dots ‘create an impression of the shimmering city at night,’3 and the ground consists of variations on the Rirratjingu clan pattern. The painting brings to mind the iconic image of an Australian city by John Brack (1920-99), Collins St, 5pm, painted some six years earlier and now in the collection of National Gallery of Victoria. While Brack’s setting is Melbourne, not Sydney, the paintings present comparable but differing attitudes to viewing crowded streets. Brack’s version is slightly detached, observing the passing parade as if through a window. In contrast, by positioning himself ‘in the street’, Mawalan produces an engaging image that expresses his amazement at facing long lines of people, so much so that he described them as three devil-devils with tall head gear. 1. Sydney from the air, c.1962, is illustrated in Caruana, W., Duff, A., Morphy, H., & Taylor, L., Old Masters: Australia’s great bark painters, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2013, p. 156, and in Morphy, H., Aboriginal Art, Phaidon, London, 1998, p. 40, plate 22, under the title Map of Painter's Travel by Plane from Yirrkala to Sydney. 2. A trip to Sydney, n.d., is illustrated in Allen, L. A., Time Before Morning: Art and Myth of the Australian Aborigines, Thomas V. Crowell, New York, 1975, p. 25. 3. Morphy 1998, p. 37. WALLY CARUANA © Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency, 2021
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 18, 2020
MAWALAN MARIKA, (c.1908 – 1967), DJAN'KAWU AT YALANGBARA, c.1961, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (c.1908 – 1967) DJAN'KAWU AT YALANGBARA, c.1961 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark DIMENSIONS: 117.0 x 44.5 cm PROVENANCE: Dorothy Bennett for Australian Aboriginal Art Trust, Darwin (label attached verso) Private collection, Adelaide Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 301 Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne (label attached verso, stock no. 220128) Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 14 October 2009, lot 33 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED: Annual Collectors' Exhibition 2008, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1 October – 8 November 2008, cat. 19 An Individual Perspective: From the Indigenous Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, 25 February – 4 April 2009 LITERATURE: Diggins, L. (ed), An Individual Perspective: from the Indigenous Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, p. 12 (illus.) The descriptive label on the reverse reads: ‘This is one of the dances performed in a sacred ceremony The Djungguan. The Wawilak [sic] Sisters wandered throughout Arnhem Land naming plants, animals and fish, reptiles and places, killing many animals and fish. When they arrived at well of Mirrirmina (rock pythons back) they made a fire and threw the food on to it but immediately everything came to life and ran into the sacred well and thus becoming totemic emblems. Yurlungurr the giant python came out of the well and swallowed the Wawilak Sisters. In a desperate attempt to avoid themselves from being swallowed the sisters had sung and danced all the taboo songs and dances they could think of starting with the crab dance as the crab had been the first to jump from the fire and run sideways down to the well. Yurlungurr took the sisters back through the [subterranean] waters beneath the well to their own country and regurgitated them onto dry land. They appeared in a dream to two Wongar men and told them that all the people must dance the same dances and sing the same songs as they had before being swallowed and these were to be performed at the time of the circumcision rites. Each sister had had a baby with her at the well and had intended to circumcise them but now they passed on instructions to the men to do this for them. Here two men representing the Wongar mythological figures dance with woomeras and spears around a sacred well. Goannas shown represent one of the totems of the artist handed down to him by his father.’
Deutscher and Hackett
Feb. 24, 2019
MAWALAN MARIKA, (c.1908 – 1967), DJAMBUWUL (THE THUNDER MAN), 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
© Mawalan Marika/Copyright Agency, 2019 MAWALAN MARIKA, (c.1908 – 1967), DJAMBUWUL (THE THUNDER MAN), 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark SIGNED: bears inscription verso: artist's name, date, RCV / RE95 DIMENSIONS: 77.0 x 32.0 cm PROVENANCE: James Davidson, Victoria Private collection, Belgium CONDITION REPORT: This work is in excellent, stable and original condition overall, consistent with age, materials and the artist’s working methods.
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 01, 2018
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) Three Female Snakes natural earth pigments on bark
Est: $700 - $1,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) Three Female Snakes natural earth pigments on bark bears artist's name verso on lable (partially disintegrated) 47 x 79cm
Leonard Joel
Jul. 30, 2018
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) Three Female Snakes natural earth pigments on bark
Est: $800 - $1,200
MAWALAN MARIKA (1908-1967) Three Female Snakes natural earth pigments on bark bears artist's name verso on lable (partially disintegrated) 47 x 79cm
Leonard Joel
May. 09, 2017
MAWALAN MARIKA (BORN CIRCA 1908-1967)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
MAWALAN MARIKA (CIRCA 1908-1967) Untitled (Hunting Scene) (1962) natural pigments on bark 131 x 71.5 cm PROVENANCE Aboriginal and Pacific Art Private Collection, New South Wales The label verso reads, "Hunting scene by Mawalan. This picture shows the following fish and reptiles: water snakes (ngoimulu), and fish. Land Snakes (Darba). Mangrove Snakes (Rangu). Land Snake (Malaragu). Fish (Matbuna). Mullet (wuluna and wargan and worwala). The red and black lines show the junction of two rivers."
Mossgreen Auctions
Apr. 05, 2017
MAWALAN MARIKA, ARTIST UNKNOWN (North east Arnhem Land), ARTIST UNKNOWN (North east Arnhem Land), (c.1908 1967), UNTITLED, c.1960, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
MAWALAN MARIKA, ARTIST UNKNOWN (North east Arnhem Land), ARTIST UNKNOWN (North east Arnhem Land), (c.1908 1967), UNTITLED, c.1960, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark DIMENSIONS: 26.0 x 16.0 cm; 29.5 x 16.0 cm; 26.0 x 15.5 cm PROVENANCE: Collected at Yirrkala, c.1960 Private collection, Western Australia Sothebys, Sydney, 28 29 July 2003, lot 330 The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney LITERATURE: Beyond Sacred: Recent Painting from Australias Remote Aboriginal Communities: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2008, p. 11 (illus.)
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 05, 2017
MAWALAN 2 MARIKA, born 1957, DJILPIN, 2002, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
MAWALAN 2 MARIKA, born 1957, DJILPIN, 2002, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark SIGNED: bears inscription verso: artists name and Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts, cat. 2178A and 0402YIRR DIMENSIONS: 177.0 x 52.0 cm PROVENANCE: Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts, Yirrkala The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney, acquired from the above in June 2002 LITERATURE: Beyond Sacred: Recent Painting from Australias Remote Aboriginal Communities: The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, edition II, Kleimeyer Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2011, p. 337 (illus.)
Deutscher and Hackett
Dec. 02, 2015
MAWALAN MARIKA, c.1908 – 1967, DJAMBUWUL (THE THUNDER MAN), 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus back
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
MAWALAN MARIKA, c.1908 – 1967, DJAMBUWUL (THE THUNDER MAN), 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus back SIGNED: inscribed verso: artist's name, date, RCV / RE95 DIMENSIONS: 77.0 x 32.0 cm PROVENANCE: James Davidson, Victoria Private collection, Belgium ESSAY: This work is accompanied by an image of the original descriptive label from verso: ‘There are many stories about Bel’nu, alias Djambuwal. He is sometimes called the “Thunder Man”, but is really the waterspout. The waterspouts are visible along the coastline prior to the Wet Season. The aborigines say that he travels in the clouds and causes the rain to fall. Over his head he carries a spear as he dances in the clouds. The aborigines bend a spear in the same way when they dance with one to copy him. He belongs to the clans of the Dhuwa moiety.’
Deutscher and Hackett
Dec. 02, 2015
MAWALAN MARIKA, c.1908 – 1967, DJAN'KAWU AT YALANGBARA, c.1961, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
MAWALAN MARIKA, c.1908 – 1967, DJAN'KAWU AT YALANGBARA, c.1961, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark DIMENSIONS: 117.0 x 44.5 cm PROVENANCE: Dorothy Bennett, Darwin (label attached verso) Private collection, Adelaide Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, lot 301 Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 14 October 2009, lot 33 Private collection, Melbourne ESSAY: The descriptive label on the reverse reads: ‘This is one of the dances performed in a sacred ceremony The Djungguan. The Wawilak (sic) Sisters wandered throughout Arnhem Land naming plants, animals and fish, reptiles and places, killing many animals and fish. When they arrived at well of Mirrirmina (rock pythons back) they made a fire and threw the food on to it but immediately everything came to life and ran into the sacred well and thus becoming totemic emblems. Yurlungurr the giant python came out of the well and swallowed the Wawilak Sisters. In a desperate attempt to avoid themselves from being swallowed the sisters had sung and danced all the taboo songs and dances they could think of starting with the crab dance as the crab had been the first to jump from the fire and run sideways down to the well. Yurlungurr took the sisters back through the [subterranean] waters beneath the well to their own country and regurgitated them onto dry land. They appeared in a dream to two Wongar men and told them that all the people must dance the same dances and sing the same songs as they had before being swallowed and these were to be performed at the time of the circumcision rites. Each sister had had a baby with her at the well and had intended to circumcise them but now they passed on instructions to the men to do this for them. Here two men representing the Wongar mythological figures dance with woomeras and spears around a sacred well. Goannas shown represent one of the totems of the artist handed down to him by his father.’
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 15, 2015
Attributed to Mawalan Marika 1908-1967 - Leaves 28.5 x 52cm
Est: $300 - $400
Attributed to Mawalan Marika 1908-1967 Leaves acrylic on bark 28.5 x 52cm
Lawsons
Sep. 03, 2015
MAWALAN MARIKA, UNTITLED, CIRCA 1963, NATURAL EARTH PIGMENTS ON BARK, 52 X 33 CM, , SOTHEBY'S JUNE 1996 LABEL VERSO
Est: $300 - $500
MAWALAN MARIKA, UNTITLED, CIRCA 1963, NATURAL EARTH PIGMENTS ON BARK, 52 X 33 CM, , SOTHEBY'S JUNE 1996 LABEL VERSO
Leonard Joel
Mar. 08, 2015
MAWALAN MARIKA, (c1908 - 1967), CROW AND TURKEY; YALANGBARA; THE BUSH TURKEY, c1960, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
MAWALAN MARIKA, (c1908 - 1967), CROW AND TURKEY; YALANGBARA; THE BUSH TURKEY, c1960, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark SIGNED: copy of two mission labels attached verso DIMENSIONS: 43.0 x 26.5, 47.5 x 25.5, and 43.5 x 27.0 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection Sotheby's, Sydney, 29 July 2003, lot 325 The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 28, 2014
Mawalan Marika Aboriginal Bird Bark Painting
Est: $200 - $400
Aboriginal bark painting by Mawalan Marika (1908-1967), head of the Rirratjingu clan from North East Arhnem land, Australia, who is considered one of the true 'greats' of the bark tradition. This 13" x 9.25" piece depicts a four birds. Weighs less than 1 lb. Signed.
J Levine Auction & Appraisal LLC
Aug. 28, 2014
Mawalan Marika Aboriginal Lizard Bark Painting
Est: $200 - $400
Aboriginal bark painting by Mawalan Marika (1908-1967), head of the Rirratjingu clan from North East Arhnem land, Australia, who is considered one of the true 'greats' of the bark tradition. This 15.75" x 9.25" piece depicts a trio of lizards. Weighs less than 1 lb. Signed.
J Levine Auction & Appraisal LLC
Aug. 28, 2014
Mawalan Marika Aboriginal Figural Bark Painting
Est: $200 - $400
Aboriginal bark painting by Mawalan Marika (1908-1967), head of the Rirratjingu clan from North East Arhnem land, Australia, who is considered one of the true 'greats' of the bark tradition. This 13.5" x 5.5" piece depicts a figure with a wallaby pair. Weighs less than 1 lb. Unsigned, label of provenance on verso.
J Levine Auction & Appraisal LLC
Mar. 26, 2014
MAWALAN MARIKA c1908 - 1967, GREEN-BACKED TURTLE AND MOONFISH, FROM BREMER ISLAND TURTLE HUNT, 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
MAWALAN MARIKA c1908 - 1967, GREEN-BACKED TURTLE AND MOONFISH, FROM BREMER ISLAND TURTLE HUNT, 1965, natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark DIMENSIONS: 59.0 x 24.0 cm PROVENANCE: Executed at Yirrkala, Northern Territory Collection of Jim Davidson, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 10, 2013
Mawalan Marika (c. 1908-1967) Untitled 1962
Est: $300 - $500
Mawalan Marika (c. 1908-1967) Untitled 1962 natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 24 x 34cm Provenance: Private Collection, Sydney
Shapiro Auctioneers
Nov. 19, 2012
Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967)
Est: £1,000 - £2,000
Untitled bears artist's name on the reverse natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 42 x 24.5cm
Bonhams
May. 28, 2012
attributed to Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967)
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
Untitled (Rirratjingu Clan Design) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 57 x 33cm
Bonhams
May. 28, 2012
attributed to Mawalan Marika (circa 1908-1967)
Est: -
Untitled (Rirratjingu Clan Design) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 52 x 33cm
Bonhams
Oct. 18, 2011
Mawalan Marika circa 1908-1967 UNTITLED (1960) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
Mawalan Marika circa 1908-1967 UNTITLED (1960) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 99 X 31CM PROVENANCE Jim A. Davidson, Melbourne (1960s) The Joan and Robert Rowland Collection, Melbourne
Smith & Singer
Oct. 18, 2011
Mawalan Marika circa 1908-1967 NATIVITY SCENE (CIRCA 1964) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
Mawalan Marika circa 1908-1967 NATIVITY SCENE (CIRCA 1964) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark 109.5 X 33.8CM PROVENANCE Private Collection By descent Aboriginal and Oceanic Art, Sotheby's, Sydney, 25 November 2007, lot 92, illustrated Private Collection, New South Wales Mawalan Marika, a leader of the Rirratjingu clan when the Christian mission was established at Yirrkala in 1935, was an innovative artist who sought to comment on his experiences of contemporary life using the traditional conventions of bark painting. In this extraordinary image of the Nativity, the baby Jesus in the manger is surrounded by animals, presumably sheep and a cow, under a variation on a traditional wet season shelter built on forked sticks. The other figures in the composition include the Virgin Mary, Joseph and three other figures, probably the three wise men offering gifts. The wise men are also depicted riding horses in the lower half of the painting and the star that guided them dominates the upper register. This painting was originally acquired directly from the artist in the mid 1960s by a missionary at Yirrkala. Wally Caruana
Smith & Singer
May. 18, 2011
MAWALAN MARIKA GOANNA, 1967 45.0 x 17.0 cm natural
Est: $1,100 - $1,200
MAWALAN MARIKA GOANNA, 1967 45.0 x 17.0 cm natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Deutscher and Hackett
Jul. 26, 2010
Mawalan Marika, circa 1908-1967, THE MILKY WAY
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
Mawalan Marika, circa 1908-1967, THE MILKY WAY natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark bears artist's name and label with artist's name, year, location and a description of the story depicted on the reverse 140 BY 39CM Provenance: Painted at Yirrkala, North East Arnhem Land circa 1965 Private
Smith & Singer
Nov. 24, 2009
MAWALAN MARIKA CIRCA 1908 - 1967 DJANG'KAWU
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
bears artist's name, title Djunkowa [sic] and size on the reverse
Sotheby's
Nov. 24, 2009
MAWALAN MARIKA CIRCA 1908 - 1967 THUNDERMAN
Est: $7,000 - $10,000
bears artist's name, title and size on reverse
Sotheby's
Jul. 20, 2009
- Mawalan Marika circa 1908 - 1967 THE MILKY WAY natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
bears Dorothy Bennett label on the reverse (distressed) natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Oct. 20, 2008
MAWALAN MARIKA , CIRCA 1908-1967 DJANG'KAWU ANCESTORS Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Bears descriptive label and Dorothy Bennett label on the reverse (both distressed) Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Nov. 25, 2007
MAWALAN MARIKA , CIRCA 1908-1967 NATIVITY SCENE Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
Inscribed faintly in crayon "Artist Mawalan" on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark
Sotheby's
Oct. 31, 2006
MAWALAN MARIKA
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
1908-1967 UNTITLED (DJANDA THE GOANNA) 1960S UNTITLED (DJANDA THE GOANNA) 1960S 66 by 40 cm Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark PROVENANCE Private collection, New York
Sotheby's
Jul. 31, 2006
MAWALAN MARIKA 1908-1967
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
SYDNEY C.1960 MEASUREMENTS 121 by 27 cm Bears title, Location 'Melville Bay', language group 'Riratjinga' together with a description of the story depicted on distressed label on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark PROVENANCE Private collection, Victoria Cf. Allen, L. A., Time Before Morning: Art and Myth of the Australian Aborigines, Thomas V. Cromwell, New York, 1975; Caruana, W. (ed), Windows on the Dreaming: Aboriginal Paintings in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, and Ellsyd Press, Sydney, 1989; Groger-Wurm, H. M., Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings and their Mythological Interpretation: Vol 1, Eastern Arnhem Land, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1973; Perkins, H., Tradition Today: Indigenous Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004; Ryan, J., Spirit in Land: Bark paintings from Arnhem Land in the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1990; and Wells, A. E., This Their Dreaming: Legends of the Panels of Aboriginal art in the Yirrkala Church, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, 1971; For two related paintings, 'Map of Painter's Travel by Plane from Yirrkala to Sydney', c.1960, see Morphy, H., Aboriginal Art, Phaidon, London, 1998, p.40, plate 22, and 'Trip to Sydney', c.1960, in Allen, 1975, p.25 Mawalan Marika, a leader of the Rirratjingu clan when the Christian mission was established at Yirrkala in 1935, sought to mitigate foreign influences on his people through art. Mawalan was at the forefront of the production of the Bark Petitions in the early 1960s as the Yolngu (the peoples of north east Arnhem Land), faced by the prospect of mining on their land, sought to establish their ancestrally endowed ownership of country under Australian law. In 1963 he was the leader of the Dhuwa moiety artists who painted one of the two large Yirrkala Panels (now housed in Buku Larrnggay Mulka museum at Yirrkala) which were placed either side of the altar in the mission church at Yirrkala to reinforce traditional beliefs as the influence of Christianity spread Mawalan was an innovative artist who sought to comment on his experiences of contemporary life. Christianity was one of the subjects he tackled as evidenced in paintings such as 'Crucifixion', c.1968, in the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin (illustrated in Crumlin, R. and A. Knight, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Dove Publications, Melbourne, 1995, p.29, plate 9). Mawalan is known to have made at least two other paintings about his first trip to Sydney by aeroplane. 'Map of Painter's Travel by Plane from Yirrkala to Sydney', in the collection of the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, and 'Trip to Sydney', both painted about 1960. In these works, Mawalan used Yolngu conventions to express the luminosity of ancestral power in painting 'to create an impression of the shimmering city at night' (Morphy 1998, p.37) As the label on the reverse suggests, the composition in 'Sydney' is based on the formal, rectangular divisions of the space characteristic of eastern Arnhem Land painting. The figures are depicted wearing hats; the lines of dots represent the streets and street lights; and the background pattern is the Rirratjingu clan design
Sotheby's
Jul. 31, 2006
MAWALAN MARIKA 1908-1967
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
MINYAPU (BREMER ISLAND TURTLE HUNT) C.1960 MEASUREMENTS 116 by 42 cm Bears the artist's hand print lower left and artist's name, title 'Minyapa', Location 'Melville Bay', language group 'Riratjinga' together with a description of the story depicted on label on the reverse Natural earth pigments on eucalyptus bark PROVENANCE Private collection, Victoria Cf. Allen, L. A., Time Before Morning: Art and Myth of the Australian Aborigines, Thomas V. Cromwell, New York, 1975; See also 'Bremer Island', 1966, illustrated in Caruana W. (ed.), Windows on the Dreaming: Aboriginal Paintings in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, and Ellsyd Press, Sydney, 1989, p.114, plate 65; and 'Turtle Dreaming', c.1963 illustrated in Caruana, W. Aboriginal Art, World of Art Series, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 2003, p. 65, plate 48, both paintings held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia; For related paintings from 1967 by the artist see Groger-Wurm, H. M., Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings and their Mythological Interpretation: Vol 1, Eastern Arnhem Land, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1973, pp.67-69, plates 89 and 90 The ancestral narrative associated with this painting concerns the turtle hunters, Murrurruma and his sons Minyapu and Dhanggatjiyana. In the lower register of the painting, the hunters are depicted three times in their canoe with their long harpoon and coiled rope chasing and spearing the green-backed turtle. They are between the eastern coast of Arnhem Land and Dhambaliya (Bremer Island). The hunters were being observed by Gakarrarr the Land Seagull, in the form of a man or boy, who had been too lazy to hunt with them. When the hunters landed and cooked the turtle, Gakarrarr moved over for a share; the hunters, upset by his idleness, threw Gakarrarr into the fire (centre left of painting) whereupon he transformed into a seagull and flew away The label on reverse reads: 'Two brothers Purluwulk and Minyara go out hunting and catch many fish and Turtles. When they return to the mainland to cook the catch they met their brother Tjakararr who wants a turtle. Tjukararr is very lazy and never hunts so the elder bother decides to cook their catch. The lazy brother can be seen by the fire'
Sotheby's