Lin Onus Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Lin Onus Art Value Price Guide

Jun. 18, 2025
LIN ONUS, Australia (1948 - 1996), Birrakala Dijini Bunarong Bugaja (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), archival pigment print, ed. 39/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), sheet: 89 x 88.5 cm. (35.0 x
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS Australia, (1948 - 1996) Birrakala Dijini Bunarong Bugaja (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest) archival pigment print, ed. 39/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signed lower right to margin; Digital Art Directory blind stamp lower right to margin; accompanied by a certificate of authenticity
Lawsons
Jun. 18, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948-1996), Gumbirri Garginingi 1996
Est: $3,500 - $5,000
PROPERTY FORMERLY FROM THE NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK COLLECTION OF MODERN ART LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Yorta Yorta language group Gumbirri Garginingi 1996 colour screenprint 50.0 x 75.0 (image); 75.0 x 100.5 cm (framed) edition: 19/85 signed and dated lower right: Lin Onus '96 numbered lower left: 19/85 titled lower centre: Gumbirri Garginingi
Menzies
Jun. 17, 2025
LIN ONUS, Motionless Fish, 1995
Est: $16,000 - $20,000
LIN ONUS 1948 - 1996 Motionless Fish, 1995 gouache on illustration board 27 x 62.5 cm; 55 x 86.5 cm (framed) signed front lower right and bears Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi label verso PROVENANCE Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Vic Private collection, Vic Sotheby's, Fine Australian Art Auction, Melbourne, Vic, May 2004, Lot No. 246 Leonard Joel, Indigenous Art, Melbourne, Vic, August 2023, Lot No. 82 Private collection, Qld Onus was born in 1948 in Melbourne, his father belonging to the Yorta Yorta people from the Barmah Forest country. He drew on imagery from this region when he began painting and sculpting in 1974. He created works that were not only distinctly Australian but also expressed what it is like to be an Aboriginal Australian living in an urban environment. Onus was a key figure in raising the profile of Indigenous art, and a leader of the urban Aboriginal art movement. His work is valued as much for its technical skill as for its unique fusion of styles. Onus combined strong socio-political commentary with great artistic expertise, producing art that is political, provocative, and unmistakably his own. Onus's early works conveyed anger at Aboriginal social injustice, but later he embraced humour and whimsy to offer a less confrontational perspective. Perhaps he inherited this sense of humour from his father, Bill. It is said that in the early 1950s, Bill Onus, as President of the Australian Aborigines League, was asked to suggest a suitable Aboriginal name for a new Melbourne community festival. Bill recommended the name ‘Moomba', telling city officials it meant ‘let's get together and have fun'. Onus often spent time with his uncle sitting on the banks of the Murray River, within sight of the Barmah Forest—his spiritual home, the inspiration for many of his later paintings, and ultimately his final resting place. — Ref: Margo Neale, Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948–1996
Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art)
Jun. 16, 2025
LIN ONUS, Australia (1948 - 1996), Frogs at Barmah II, archival pigment print, ed. 19/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), sheet: 68.5 x 89 cm. (26.9 x 35.0 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS Australia, (1948 - 1996) Frogs at Barmah II archival pigment print, ed. 19/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signed lower right to margin; Digital Art Directory blind stamp lower right to margin; accompanied by a certificate of authenticity
Lawsons
Jun. 09, 2025
LIN ONUS, Australia (1948 - 1996), Late Afternoon, Barmah, archival pigment print, ed. 5/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), sheet: 89 x 89 cm. (35.0 x 35.0 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS Australia, (1948 - 1996) Late Afternoon, Barmah archival pigment print, ed. 5/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signed lower right to margin; Digital Art Directory blind stamp lower right to margin; accompanied by a certificate of authenticity
Lawsons
May. 25, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948-1996), untitled seascape, oil on board, signed lower right "Lin Onus", with exhibition invitation verso, opened by Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls at the Aborigines Advancement League Hall in Northcote, November 30th, 1975. 30 x 45cm, 40
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
LIN ONUS (1948-1996), untitled seascape, oil on board, signed lower right "Lin Onus", with exhibition invitation verso, opened by Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls at the Aborigines Advancement League Hall in Northcote, November 30th, 1975. 30 x 45cm, 40 x 55cm overall © Lin Onus Estate/Copyright Agency, 2025
Leski Auctions Pty Ltd
Apr. 10, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Fish and Lightning Weed, 1996, archival pigment print, ed. 15/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 61.5 x 81.5 cm. (24.2 x 32.0 in.), sheet: 70 x 90 cm. (27.5 x 35.4 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Fish and Lightning Weed, 1996 archival pigment print, ed. 15/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate of authenticity verso
Lawsons
Apr. 08, 2025
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Gilgirri Rruki (Camouflaged Geckos) (1992) gouache on board 50 x 38 cm
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Gilgirri Rruki (Camouflaged Geckos) (1992) gouache on board signed ‘Lin Onus' lower right 50 x 38 cm PROVENANCE Lin Onus, Melbourne Painters Gallery Australia, Sydney Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above on 9 November 1992 EXHIBITED (Possibly) Lin Onus: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Painters Gallery, Sydney, 1992
Smith & Singer
Apr. 08, 2025
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Michael and I are Just Slipping Down to the Pub for a Minute (1992) gouache on board 50 x 38 cm
Est: $200,000 - $300,000
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Michael and I are Just Slipping Down to the Pub for a Minute (1992) gouache on board signed 'Lin Onus' lower left 50 x 38 cm PROVENANCE Lin Onus, Melbourne Painters Gallery Australia, Sydney Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above 1992 Aboriginal Art, Sotheby's Australia, Melbourne, 9 July 2001, lot 141, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED (Possibly) Lin Onus: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Painters Gallery, Sydney, 1992 Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 11 August – 30 October 2000; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 24 November 2000 – 4 March 2001; Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, 6 April – 29 July 2001, illustrated Significant Tilt, Macquarie University Gallery, Sydney Best in Show: Dogs in Australian Art, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 9 April – 3 July 2016, illustrated LITERATURE Margo Neale with contributions from Michael Eather, Gary Foley, Sylvia Klienert, Bernhard Lüthi, Ian McLean, Jo Onus and Triki Onus, Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, cover (illustrated), plate 43, pp. 20, 21, 58, 95 (illustrated), 137 Steven Miller, Dogs in Australian Art: A New History of Antipodean Creativity, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2012, pp. 84, 85 (illustrated), 187 Steven Miller, Dogs in Australian Art: A New History of Antipodean Creativity, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2016, pp. 90, 91 (illustrated), 213 Lisa Loader, Best in Show: Dogs in Australian Art, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 2016, n.p. (illustrated)
Smith & Singer
Apr. 03, 2025
§ LIN AND TIRIKI ONUS, DJALNG BALTJIGI NGUKI DJINIGMA (WISH YOU WERE HERE) 1996,
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
§ LIN AND TIRIKI ONUS, DJALNG BALTJIGI NGUKI DJINIGMA (WISH YOU WERE HERE) 1996, SCREENPRINT ED. 12/70, SIGNED, TITLED, EDITIONED BELOW IMAGE, 48 X 68CM, FRAME SIZE: 65 X 85CM
Leonard Joel
Apr. 02, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Pitoa Garkman (Blue Frogs) (2), 1994, screenprint, ed. 7/85, 49.5 x 75 cm (frame: 86 x 118 cm)
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Pitoa Garkman (Blue Frogs) (2), 1994 screenprint, ed. 7/85 editioned, titled, signed and dated in pencil below image: 7/85 Pitoa Garkman lin Onus '94
Lawsons
Mar. 26, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996), Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996, archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 76.5 x 89.5 cm, facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Est: $800 - $1,200
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996 archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) 76.5 x 89.5 cm facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Mar. 26, 2025
LIN ONUS, ARAFURA SWAMP IV, 1996
Est: $300,000 - $400,000
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) ARAFURA SWAMP IV, 1996 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 182.0 x 182.0 cm signed lower right: Lin Onus bears inscription verso: SO1 ARAFURA SWAMP IV PROVENANCE Private collection, Victoria, acquired directly from the artist in 1996 RELATED WORK Arafura Swamp, 1990, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 182.0 x 182.0 cm, in the Baillieu Myer collection of the 1980s, illus. in Neale, M., Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948 – 1996, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2000, p. 77 ESSAY Lin Onus’ technically polished and stylistically hybrid Postmodern paintings sought to reconcile the various facets of his own cultural métissage, as a metaphor for broader political and social reconciliation, and through his art illuminate the underlying indigenous cultures of the Australian continent. A lightning rod moment came for the artist following a pivotal meeting with Yolŋu elders in Maningrida, Arnhem Land in 1986: ‘It suddenly hit me that you could paint both what you saw and what lay underneath it – what is understood – as well’, he explained in 1991.1 Thus, with a dazzling mosaic of layered representations, Onus’ immersive Arafura Swamp IV, 1996 simultaneously presents two opposing landscape views of a site of great indigenous cultural significance, Gurruwiling, the Arafura Swamp wetlands of central Arnhem Land. Incorporating in a unified vision many of his most powerful and striking stylistic devices, this painting belongs to a celebrated series of works stemming from a large work of the same name, Arafura Swamp, 1990 (Baillieu Myer Collection, Melbourne), a masterpiece of his jigsaw motif. The Yorta Yorta artist, a largely self-taught pioneer of Koori activist art, was at the height of his powers in 1996, working with Margo Neale on a large retrospective exhibition at the University of Queensland Art Museum when he suddenly passed away, at the age of 47. Painted at the liminal hour of dusk, the sublime surface of Onus’ billabong, dotted with blooming pink water lily plants is still. Drawing on the artistic lineage of H. J. Johnstone’s Evening Shadows, Backwater of the Murray, South Australia, 1880 (Art Gallery of South Australia), the water reflects the rhythmic, graphic black trunks of native gums, its glassy transparency revealing a bed of russet leaflitter at the bottom of the canvas. Punctured unevenly with rectangular apertures placed throughout the painted surface, Onus has compromised the integrity of this view. Revealed through these interstices is the same landscape painted in colours mimicking bark and natural earth pigments, borrowing the graphic flatness and ceremonial rarrk cross-hatched motifs of local Yolŋu bark painting, whose sacredness Onus had recently been granted the authority to paint. A self-proclaimed ‘cultural mechanic’2 and post-modern bricoleur, Onus found in the works of Belgian surrealist René Magritte, an artist whom he admired3, a visual deceit that he could use to illustrate explicit themes of Indigenous cultural dislocation: the treacherous double image and fragmentation using a jigsaw motif (see for example, René Magritte, The Large Family, 1963). Onus’ metaphorical dislocations disrupt and subvert assumptions on ideologies of representation and the implications of belonging and custodianship they project. The first of these works arose in the 1980s around questions of land rights and restoring cultural knowledge in the wake of destructive colonial assimilationist policies, for example, the painting Picking up the Pieces, 1986 and linocut Dislocation, 1986. Arafura Swamp IV joins a small and important group of double-image landscape paintings arising from these early works, featuring overlays and/or perforations.4 The incorporation of dual perspectives in his artworks became Onus’ picturesque and gently humorous strategy to surmount prejudiced notions of what aboriginal art could and should look like. Self-consciously, they interrogate the process of representation itself and provide an unwavering reminder that this land is, and always has been, Aboriginal land. Originally, these fractured and spliced works referred to ‘a number of my friends who are trying to find out where they have come from, and I suppose, where they are going’, the artist elucidated in 1990.5 This search for belonging and land custodianship became more poignantly personal for the artist towards the end of his life, as he discovered his ancestry was descended from Yorta Yorta nations, and not Wiradjuri as he originally had been led to believe.6 Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Lin Onus painted landscapes of his local environs around the Dandenong Ranges in a Western photorealist style, influenced by the works of older, Indigenous artists who had been successful in using a European landscape tradition to depict their ancestral lands: Ronald Bull (1942 – 1979), Revel Cooper (c.1934 – 1983), and Albert Namatjira (1902 – 1959), all of whom had visited the Onus family in Melbourne. It was Onus’ later involvement with the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, however, that provided a transformative visit to Maningrida, NT in 1986 – a ‘spiritual awakening’ during which he met Senior Yolŋu artist, Djiwul (Jack) Wunuwun, whose ancestral lands run along the Northern edge of the Arafura Swamp, which is depicted in this painting. Over the course of dozens of subsequent pilgrimages to visit Wunuwun, Onus was adopted by and welcomed into the Murrungun-Djnang clan, initiated into cultural knowledge systems and given permission to use sacred rarrk designs and storylines. Wunuwun’s philosophy of ‘seeing below the surface’ and using artistic hybridity to achieve reconciliation was also shared and adopted by Onus, explored in depth in these late water-and-reflection paintings.7 Occupying what anthropologist Levi Strauss defines as that ‘in-between’ space between multiple worlds, the densely layered patterning of Arafura Swamp IV oscillates between two interwoven modes of viewing and systems of understanding the world, metaphorically portraying Indigenous displacement and erasure. Like the foundational Arafura Swamp, 1990, the revelation of an underlying bark design gives primacy to its ancient origins.8 The directional lines of black tree trunks and the discs of lily pads unify the two images, indicating that in the impossibility of returning to a land of pre-colonisation, the co-existence of multiple and equivalent frames of reference is a sustainable path to progress. 1. Onus, cited in Moore, F., ‘Cultures find a common cause’, Australian Financial Review, Sydney, 15 March 1991 2. Neale, M., Lin Onus, Savill Galleries, Melbourne, 2003, p. 1 3. Neale, M., Urban Dingo – the Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948 – 1996, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, p. 15 4. These include Jimmy’s Billabong, 1988 (National Gallery of Australia) overlaid with rarrk; Arafura Swamp, 1990 (Baillieu Myer Collection, Melbourne) with square cut-outs revealing an underlying bark painting; and Barmah Forest, 1994 (Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra) with mismatched jigsaw piece cut-outs. 5. ‘Lin Onus. Language and Lasers’, Art Monthly Supplement, no. 20, May 1990, p. 19 6. Letter, dated 14 July 1995, from Lin Onus to Art Gallery of New South Wales, AGNSW archives 7. Davis, P., ‘In Touch with an artist’s Aboriginality’, Canberra Times, 7 July 1990, p. 21 and Mundine, D., ‘Jack Wunuwun’, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Handbook at: https://www.mca.com.au/collection/artists/jack-wunuwun/ (accessed March 2024) 8. Neale, op. cit., p. 16 LUCIE REEVES-SMITH © Estate of Lin Onus/Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 26, 2025
LIN ONUS, GARKMAN, 1995
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) GARKMAN, 1995 gouache on illustration board 27.0 x 63.0 cm signed lower right: Lin Onus PROVENANCE Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in September 1995 EXHIBITED probably Lin Onus Bama-Mutjing (Barmah – My Father’s Country), Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 12 September – 8 October 1995 ESSAY Garkman, 1995 displays the sublime tranquillity that Lin Onus derived from a cultural and spiritual interaction with the land. A single frog, the eponymous ‘garkman’, rests in the shallows of this environmental sanctuary, inviting peaceful contemplation. Although its head pierces the surface of the water, not a single ripple emanates, the flat and glassy plane perfectly reflecting the silhouettes of two gum trees bordering this body of water. Depicted from above, Onus’ narrow and deceptively sparse composition provides no identifying land features or horizon, alluding to an expansive sense of custodianship and incontrovertible timeless belonging. A self-taught artist living in suburban Melbourne, Onus was influenced by the relationships his father had cultivated with older, Indigenous artists who, in the absence of traditional cultural initiations, had been successful in using a European landscape tradition to depict their ancestral lands: Albert Namatjira (1902 – 1959), Ronald Bull (1942 – 1979) and Revel Cooper (c.1934 – 1983). Art historian Sylvia Kleinert has interpreted Lin Onus’ depiction of land as a ‘means of retrieving and rewriting history'; its multilayered presentation illustrates a ‘cultural archive.’1 The trompe l’oeil effects of Onus’ early photorealistic style provide the foundation for the ‘real and illusory collaging’ of his water-and-reflection paintings of the mid-1990s such as Garkman.2 The Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council facilitated a transformative visit for Onus to Maningrida in the Northern Territory in 1986 – a ‘spiritual awakening’3 during which he met Senior Yolŋu artist, Djiwul (Jack) Wunuwun. The long partnership with Wunuwun, and particularly his adoption of Onus into the family, provided the artist with a deep initiation into the Yolŋu culture of the Murrungun people of East Arnhem Land – giving him authority to paint some of their cultural motifs. In the late 1980s, Wunuwun had pioneered the use of Western three-dimensionality, transparency and perspective in bark painting to illustrate the coexistence and transitions between physical and spiritual realms, inspiring Onus to reconcile multiple views in his artworks.4 Translucent and multilayered, Onus’ watery landscape of trees and a riverbed of leaves features an ‘indigenised’ frog, painted in colours and designs mimicking bark painting in natural ochres from Arnhem Land. ‘Garkman’ is a generic Yolŋu name for all frog species in Arnhem Land, used by both Dhuwa and Yirritja moieties, and symbolises the wet season, celebrating the renewal of life with the coming rains.5 Onus spoke of his affinity with these creatures, which often feature in his works, following his assimilation into this community: ‘Having a skin name you know who else you’re automatically related to… you get to know all the Dhuwa creatures, so these creatures become your countrymen, they’re part of me and I’m part of them now.’6 1. Kleinert, S., ‘Aboriginal Enterprises: negotiating an urban Aboriginality’, Aboriginal History, vol. 34, 2010 2. O’Ferral, M., ‘Lin Onus’, in Lynn, V. (ed.), Australian Perspecta 1991, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1991, p. 80 3. Lin Onus, cited in Leslie, D., ‘Earth, spirit and belonging in Australian art’, Spirit in the Land, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, 2010 – 2011, p. 19 4. ‘Jack Wunuwun - Barnumbirr the Morning Star 1987’ in Caruana, W., and Cubillo, F., Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art: collection highlights from the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2010, p. 187 5. Boll, V., ‘The distribution and ethnozoology of frogs (and toad) in north-eastern Arnhem Land (Australia)’, Anthropozoologica, vol. 39, issue 2, 2004, p. 67 6. Lin Onus, Interview recorded with Donna Leslie, 30 Jan 1995, cited in Neale, M., Urban Dingo - the Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948 – 1996, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, p. 14 – 15 LUCIE REEVES-SMITH © Estate of Lin Onus/Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 18, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Wax Dogs on Lake Eyre 1989 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 61 x 114cm
Est: $45,000 - $65,000
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Wax Dogs on Lake Eyre 1989 synthetic polymer paint on canvas signed lower right: Lin Onus titled on gallery label verso 61 x 114cm PROVENANCE: Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne (label verso) Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: Lin Onus, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 11 - 28 October 1989, cat. no. 11 Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 11 August - 30 October 2000; then touring Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 24 November - 4 March 2001; Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, 6 April - 29 July 2001, loan no. 37 (label verso) LITERATURE: Neale, M., Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, pl. 40, p. 92 (illus.) OTHER NOTES: "I kind of hope that history may see me as some sort of bridge between cultures…" (1) Lin Onus, 1990 Lin Onus (1948-1996) was a groundbreaking Australian artist whose work bridged cultural divides, blending Western artistic traditions with Indigenous perspectives. From Yorta Yorta and Scottish descent, Onus was deeply committed to highlighting Indigenous narratives through visual language, often employing humour, irony, and meticulous craftsmanship to challenge colonial representations of Indigenous identity. His wax dogs, also known as dingoes, stand as a compelling example of this approach-an enigmatic body of work that disrupts expectations and offers a nuanced reflection on cultural displacement, survival, and transformation. Onus was an artist of remarkable versatility, moving between painting, sculpture, and installation. His ability to integrate Indigenous iconography with European artistic techniques, linking his dual ancestry, resulted in a unique visual lexicon that spoke across cultural boundaries. Throughout his career, he engaged with pressing social issues, including land rights, environmental concerns, and the resilience of Indigenous culture. The wax dog series, produced in the final years of his life, encapsulates these themes, while adding a layer of surrealist wit that is characteristic of his oeuvre. Lin Onus was a self-taught artist, who forged an exceptional career and held exhibitions across Australia and internationally. Following his premature death in 1996 at the age of forty-seven, a touring retrospective, Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, opened in 2000 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, coinciding with the Sydney Olympics, before touring to Brisbane and Melbourne. This artwork, 'Wax Dogs on Lake Eyre' 1989, was included in the selection of works by Lin Onus, to be part of this significant retrospective exhibition. Whilst Onus often identified as a landscape artist in his early career, from 1986 following his time in Maningrida, he began to include titles for his artworks using the language of his adoptive family. (2) From this moment, his art developed into an amalgamation of photorealist depictions of landscapes, with Indigenous imagery and stories. This was inspired by his time in Maningrida with the Djinang artist, Djiwul 'Jack' Wunuwun and other central Arnhem Land artists, which offered Onus the opportunity to learn Aboriginal traditional knowledge and where he was given creation stories that he was permitted to paint. (3) Inspired by his journeys north, Onus passed Lake Eyre where he first encountered the dingo; an animal for which he developed an influential kinship that led to the creation of artworks such as, 'Wax Dogs on Lake Eyre' 1989. To Onus, the dingo was not the demeaned dingo of recent colonial history, "…the dingo in the paintings is a survivor, an animal of supreme adaptability: a figure for Aboriginal subjects themselves in their oneness with the land". (4) This view of the dingo as a survivor, led to the adoption of the dingo as the persona for the character X, who engages in adventures with his friend Ray, the stingray; characters that formed an enduring comic myth in Onus's artworks. These totemic animals perform both moral and political roles as they travel across landscapes. (5) In this artwork, 'Wax Dogs on Lake Eyre' 1989, the wax dogs are set against the vast landscape of Lake Eyre, positioned in the foreground, capturing the viewer's immediate gaze. Onus has politicised the wax dogs by colouring their coats with bands of red, black and yellow - telluric colours reminiscent of the Aboriginal flag and culture. (6) A larger, parent figure who is leading the group, is depicted turning their gaze back towards the three following pups. With the parallel drawn between the wax dog or dingo as a survivor, revered for its adaptability to the land and environment, this imagery of kinship gives a sense of hope for the unity and bonds formed when faced with adversity. Onus's use of tonality in this work, evident in the clouds, the glistening water of the salt lake and the shadows against the bodies of the wax dogs, creates movement and emulates the heat of the sun against the harsh landscape of the salt lake. This further suggests the resilience of the dingo, a symbolic figure to the resilience of the Indigenous culture when faced with issues of representation, dispossession, cultural displacement, and marginality. Onus left an indelible mark on the Australian art world and his legacy endures today. 'Wax Dogs on Lake Eyre' 1989 stands as a testament to Onus's ability to weave layered narratives within his imagery. As with much of his work, these pieces operate on multiple levels-formally compelling, conceptually rich, and emotionally resonant. They demand engagement, inviting viewers to reconsider their own positions within Australia's complex cultural landscape and history. Amanda North Senior Fine Art Specialist (1) Lin Onus, artist statement, cited in Neale, M. et al., Urban Dingo: the art and life of Lin Onus 1948- 1996, Craftsman House in association with the Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 2000, p.21 (2) Neale, M. et al., Urban Dingo: the art and life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, Craftsman House in association with the Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 2000, pp. 19-20 (3) Ibid. (4) Ashcroft, B., Hybridity and Transformation: The Art of Lin Onus, University of New South Wales, Postcolonial Text, vol. 8, no. 1, 2013, p. 10 (5) Neale, M. et al., Urban Dingo: the art and life of Lin Onus 1948- 1996, Craftsman House in association with the Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 2000, pp. 19-20 (6) Ibid. © Lin Onus/Copyright Agency, 2025
Leonard Joel
Mar. 12, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996), Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996, archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 76.5 x 89.5 cm, facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996 archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) 76.5 x 89.5 cm facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Feb. 26, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Kicking around the Claypan, archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 70 x 82.5 cm. (27.5 x 32.4 in.), sheet: 77 x 89.5 cm. (30.3 x 35.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Kicking around the Claypan archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Feb. 16, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996), Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996, archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 76.5 x 89.5 cm, facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996 archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) 76.5 x 89.5 cm facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Feb. 12, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Kicking around the Claypan, archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 70 x 82.5 cm. (27.5 x 32.4 in.), sheet: 77 x 89.5 cm. (30.3 x 35.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Kicking around the Claypan archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Feb. 12, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1946 - 1996), Fish and Lightning Weed, archival pigment print, ed. 14/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 69 x 90 cm. (27.1 x 35.4 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1946 - 1996) Fish and Lightning Weed archival pigment print, ed. 14/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right, certificate attached verso
Lawsons
Feb. 11, 2025
LIN ONUS, Kicking Around the Claypan
Est: $400 - $600
LIN ONUS Kicking Around the Claypan archival pigment print facsimile signature and editioned on margin: Lin Onus / A/P numbered verso: #2010118 68 x 81cm PROVENANCE Digital Art Directory (certificate of authenticity accompanies this lot)
Gibson's
Feb. 11, 2025
LIN ONUS, Kicking Around the Claypan
Est: $300 - $500
LIN ONUS Kicking Around the Claypan archival pigment print facsimile signature and editioned on margin: Lin Onus / A/P numbered verso: #201074 47 x 56cm PROVENANCE Digital Art Directory (certificate of authenticity accompanies this lot)
Gibson's
Feb. 05, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993, archival pigment print, ed. 38/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 82 x 82 cm. (32.2 x 32.2 in.), sheet: 90
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993 archival pigment print, ed. 38/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate of authenticity verso
Lawsons
Jan. 29, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1946 - 1996), Fish and Lightning Weed, archival pigment print, ed. 14/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 69 x 90 cm. (27.1 x 35.4 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1946 - 1996) Fish and Lightning Weed archival pigment print, ed. 14/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right, certificate attached verso
Lawsons
Jan. 22, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993, archival pigment print, ed. 38/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 82 x 82 cm. (32.2 x 32.2 in.), sheet: 90
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993 archival pigment print, ed. 38/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate of authenticity verso
Lawsons
Jan. 12, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Kicking around the Claypan, archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 70 x 82.5 cm. (27.5 x 32.4 in.), sheet: 77 x 89.5 cm. (30.3 x 35.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Kicking around the Claypan archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Jan. 12, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Frogs and Barmah II, 1995, archival pigment print, ed. 18/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 61 x 81.5 cm. (24.0 x 32.0 in.), sheet: 69 x 90 cm. (27.1 x 35.4 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Frogs and Barmah II, 1995 archival pigment print, ed. 18/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate of authenticity verso
Lawsons
Jan. 12, 2025
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996), Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996, archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 76.5 x 89.5 cm, facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Leftfoot Practice with Best Friend, 1996 archival pigment print, ed. 10/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) 76.5 x 89.5 cm facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Jan. 08, 2025
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993, archival pigment print, ed. 38/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 82 x 82 cm. (32.2 x 32.2 in.), sheet: 90
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993 archival pigment print, ed. 38/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate of authenticity verso
Lawsons
Dec. 11, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Kicking around the Claypan, archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 70 x 82.5 cm. (27.5 x 32.4 in.), sheet: 77 x 89.5 cm. (30.3 x 35.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Kicking around the Claypan archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Dec. 11, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1946-1996), Fish and Lightning Weed, archival pigment print, ed. 14/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 69 x 90 cm. (27.1 x 35.4 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1946-1996) Fish and Lightning Weed archival pigment print, ed. 14/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Dec. 01, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1948 - 1996), Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993, archival pigment print, ed. 37/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 82 x 82 cm. (32.2 x 32.2 in.), mount: 90
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS ( 1948 - 1996 ) Birrikala Djini Bunarong (Butterflies in Sherbrooke Forest), 1993 archival pigment print, ed. 37/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Nov. 26, 2024
LIN ONUS, LIGHTNING WEED AND RIPPLE, 1996
Est: $250,000 - $350,000
LIN ONUS (1948 - 1996) LIGHTNING WEED AND RIPPLE, 1996 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 91.5 x 122.0 cm signed lower right: Lin Onus PROVENANCE Estate of the artist, Melbourne Savill Galleries, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Lin Onus, Savill Galleries, Melbourne, 30 October – 23 November 2003, cat. 4 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, p. 4) ESSAY Extraordinarily beautiful and technically flawless, the paintings of Lin Onus exhibit a complex mixture of ideas set around place, ownership and history wherein they occupy a distinctive position in the broader setting of Australian art. Paintings such as Lightning Weed and Ripple, 1996 have the capacity to transfix the viewer and are full of meaning, what Michael O’Farrell observed as ‘the sheer tactility of Lin Onus… imagery that establishes a carefully balanced dialogue of sensory and mental elements.’1 Renowned for incorporating satire and humour in his early political installations and paintings that challenged cultural hegemonies, it is in these later paintings that Onus demonstrated his Indigenous connection to country. Poetic landscapes of the natural world combined with subtle traditional iconography confirmed Onus’ relationship to both his adopted homeland in Arnhem Land and to his own ancestral sites at the Barmah Forest on the Murray River. Growing up in a culturally productive and politically engaged household in Melbourne, Onus could not help but be influenced by the activism of his family. His mother Mary Kelly was of Scottish origin and an active member of the Australian communist party and his father, Bill Onus, a Yorta Yorta man from the Aboriginal mission of Cummeragunja near Echuca, was an important figure in the Aboriginal civil rights movement, whose Aboriginal Enterprises (1952 – 1968) provided an outlet for Aboriginal art and craft in defiance of the then-national goal of assimilation. In 1957, Bill Onus together with Doug Nicholls established the Aboriginal Advancement League in Victoria with a goal to ‘promote cultural renewal and reawaken aboriginal pride.’2 Onus’ cultural education on his Aboriginal side was provided by visits to Cummeragunja with his father. There they would sit with his uncle Aaron Briggs (who gave Onus his Koori name, Burrinja, meaning ‘star’3), on the banks of the Murray River within view of the Barmah Forest (Onus’ spiritual home and the subject of many of his paintings), listening to stories of family and history. Leaving school at 14, Lin Onus began, his largely self-taught, artistic career assisting his father in decorating artefacts. After embarking on a panel-beating apprenticeship, he developed skills working on metal and painting with an airbrush. By 1974, he was painting watercolours and photorealist landscapes and in 1975, he held his first exhibition and began a set of paintings based on Musqito, the first Aboriginal guerrilla fighter, which still hang on the walls of the Advancement League in Melbourne. While the bullying and racism experienced by Onus in suburban Melbourne during the 1960s influenced much of his art, the cultural revelations that came from his friendship with respected Arnhem Land artist Jack Wunuwun (1930 – 1991) enabled Onus to embrace both his Indigenous and non-Indigenous heritage. From his first encounter with Wunuwun at Maningrida in 1986 while travelling in his role as the Victorian representative for the Aboriginal Arts Board, Onus’ life was deeply influenced by the late Yolŋu Elder, who had adopted Onus as his son. Over the next decade, Onus made sixteen ‘spiritual pilgrimages’ to the outstation of Garmedi, the home of Jack Wunuwun in Central Arnhem land.4 Wunuwun was able to offer Onus a kind of cultural sanctuary by welcoming him into the Yolŋu kinship system – a relationship that provided Onus with the opportunity to learn Aboriginal traditional knowledge which enhanced his own Yorta Yorta experience of the world. Through Wunuwun, Onus was given creation stories that he was permitted to paint and an Aboriginal language he could also access. As Onus noted, ‘…going to Arnhem Land gave him back all the stuff that colonialism had taken away – Language and Ceremony.’5 Onus acquired his knowledge of symbols, patterns and designs from the community elders, and it seemed to him that this experience of tradition was ‘like a missing piece’ of a puzzle which ‘clicked into position’ for him culturally.6 His resulting personal idiom thus juxtaposed the rarrk clan patterns of Maningrida, learnt from the older artist, with a photorealist style of landscape, integrating Indigenous spirituality and narrative with Western representation. Lightning Weed and Ripple, 1996 presents a mesmerising, immaculately executed image of central Arnhem Land wetlands where the surrounding tall trees are reflected in the cool dark water of the billabong and fish glide just below the surface of the water, creating ripples and affording glimpses of the traditional markings that cover their bodies. Onus’ watery landscapes embrace what Wunuwun described as ‘seeing below the surface’7 and function on several levels. Rich in reflections and ambiguities, these enigmatic views clearly dispensed with the conventional idea of a European panoramic view. Here a landscape apparently hangs upside down from the sky. Reflected in the still water, flashes of lightning expose the serpentine tree branches and illuminate the leaf detritus below, while the school of rarrk-covered fish swim not only under the water, but seemingly through the sky and the branches of the trees as well. As Margot Neale elaborates, these paintings are ‘deceptively picturesque, for things are not always what they seem. Laden with cross-cultural references, visual deceits, totemic relationships and a sense of displacement, they, amongst other things, challenge one’s viewing position: Are you looking up through water towards the sky, down into a waterhole from above, across the surface only or all three positions simultaneously?’8 Reflections are essential to the art of Lin Onus, literally and metaphorically, and both his painting and his social activism address issues of identity, racism and the power imbalance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Indeed, throughout his lifetime Onus held a mirror to unresolved social inequality within this country and explored what it means to be Australian, with his luminous paintings reflecting his desire to create an art that could be appreciated on numerous levels by everyone. Onus hoped that ‘history would see him as some sort of bridge between cultures’9 and as articulated by Ian Mclean, ‘[he] successfully used postmodern strategies to infiltrate issues of Aboriginality into everyday Australian life.’10 This convergence of different cultures, languages and visual perspectives thus powerfully embodies both Onus’ personal and artistic journey, and it is appropriate that through his prodigious talent and legacy of widely celebrated work he ultimately did succeed in bringing together Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives in a spirit of reconciliation that celebrates the intersection of differing values and points of view. 1. O’Ferrall, M., ‘Lin Onus’ in Australian Perspecta 1991, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1991, p. 80 2. Kleinert, S., ‘Aboriginal Enterprises: negotiating an urban Aboriginality’, Aboriginal History, vol. 34, 2010, see: http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p170581/html/ch07.xhtml?re... (accessed 20 October 2024) 3. Neale, M., Urban Dingo: The Art of Lin Onus 1948 – 1996, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, p. 14 4. ibid., p. 15 5. ibid. 6. Leslie, D., ‘Coming home to the land’, Eureka Street, March – April 2006, see: https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/coming-home-to-the-land# (accessed 20 October 2024) 7. Neale, M. et al., Lin Onus: A Cultural Mechanic, Savill Galleries, Melbourne, 2003, p. 1 8. ibid. 9. Neale, 2000, op. cit., p. 21 10. ibid., p. 41 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Estate of Lin Onus/Copyright Agency, 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 20, 2024
LIN ONUS (1948-1996), On the Snowline
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION, MELBOURNE LIN ONUS (1948-1996) On the Snowline oil on board 49.5 x 64.5 cm; 62.5 x 78.0 cm (framed) signed lower right: Lin Onus bears inscription on label attached verso: "ON THE SNOWLINE"
Menzies
Nov. 20, 2024
LIN ONUS (1948-1996), Summertime 1994
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SYDNEY LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Summertime 1994 synthetic polymer paint on card 20.0 x 63.0 cm; 48.0 x 68.5 cm (framed) accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from The Estate of Lin Onus, Melbourne (attached verso)
Menzies
Nov. 13, 2024
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Gumiring Garkman 1994 screenprint, ed. A/P 50 x 74.5cm (image); 77 x 99cm (frame)
Est: $3,500 - $4,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Gumiring Garkman 1994 screenprint, ed. A/P signed and dated lower right: Lin Onus '94 titled lower centre editioned lower left 50 x 74.5cm (image); 77 x 99cm (frame) PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: RELATED WORK: Lin Onus, Gumiring Garkman 1994, synthetic polymer paint and ink on illustration board, 49 x 72cm, Menzies, Melbourne, 27 March 2024, lot 27 © Estate of Lin Onus/Copyright Agency 2024
Leonard Joel
Nov. 12, 2024
LIN ONUS, SENTINEL, C.1981
Est: $6,500 - $8,500
LIN ONUS 1948 -1996 SENTINEL, c.1981 oil on board 64 x 73 cm; 80 x 89 cm (framed) Signed lower right 'Lin Onus' PROVENANCE Direct from the artist, Belgrave Vic Private collection, Vic Fireworks Gallery, Qld Cat No. FW9872 Private collection, Qld Accompanied by certificate of authenticity from Fireworks Gallery and a letter from the vendor ©Lin Onus / Copyright Agency, 2024 Lin Onus played a pivotal role in renegotiating the history of colonial and Aboriginal Australia through his practice as an artist and advocate. A Yorta Yorta man from Cumeraganga on the Murray River, he grew up in urban Melbourne strongly influenced by the work of realist painters including Albert Namatjira and began his own career as a watercolorist and photorealist. Onus's work evolved after his 'adoption' by Arnhem Land Elders in the mid 1980s conferred upon him the right to use certain traditional stories and designs. This enabled him to develop a distinctive visual language. Through a fusion of Western and Aboriginal systems of organising space, vision and design he sought to portray landscape as a carrier of myth, history, and ideology. In this rare seminal work, Lin Onus explores his relationship with landscape and how to depict meaning from it's simplicity. Lin was a cultural provocateur who believed that there was no distinction between the political and the beautiful. His contribution changed forever the perceptions about the nature of Aboriginal art and in the inadequate terminology of our times put urban art, as it is popularly known, onto the cultural map in Australia. The personal note from the private collector reads: "I lived in Tecoma Victoria in the 70-80's and being interested in local artwork I visited the Sherbrooke Gallery, now known as the Burrinja Gallery and purchased several paintings, including one by Lin Onus.Unbeknown to me the Gallery had been broken into during the night and several paintings were stolen. I actually decided to purchase 'Sentinel' when I saw it on the verandah, left there when the robbery was interrupted. I found the tranquility of 'Sentinel' to be very relaxing after a hectic day teaching and I swear the clouds moved! Today I live a different life in Hervey bay and I have decided to pass my painting on for someone else to enjoy and appreciate the talents of Lin Onus." Corrie Wright 21 September 2024 This piece is a fine example of an Australian Aboriginal artwork.
Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art)
Nov. 12, 2024
LIN ONUS, FROGS IN RIVERGRASS, 1996
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
LIN ONUS 1948 -1996 FROGS IN RIVERGRASS, 1996 gouache on illustration board 27 x 63.5 cm; 55.5 x 86 cm (framed) signed lower left 'Lin Onus' PROVENANCE Direct from the artist to Belinda Dennis nee Baker, Lin Onus’ personal assistant (1991-1996) The Belinda and Craig Dennis Collection, Vic ©Lin Onus / Copyright Agency, 2024 Lin Onus was born in 1948 in Melbourne, his father being of the Yorta Yorta people from the Barmah Forest country. Onus used images from this area when he took up painting and sculpture in 1974. He created paintings which were not only essentially Australian but showed what it is like to be an Aboriginal Australian living in a city. He helped to raise the profile of indigenous art, including being one of the leaders of the urban Aboriginal Art Movement. Importantly, his work is appreciated for his technical skill as much as the mix of styles. His strong socio-political views combined with great expertise resulted in art that is political, provocative and distinct. Lin Onus' early works displayed anger at Aboriginal social injustice, but he later employed whimsy to paint a less strident picture. Perhaps he learned the power of humour from his father, Bill. The story goes that in the early 50s Bill Onus was asked, in his role as President of the Australian Aborigines League, to provide a suitable token Aboriginal name for a new Melbourne community festival. Onus loved to recall how Bill suggested 'Moomba' to the gullible city fathers, saying it meant 'let's get together and have fun'. With his uncle, Lin Onus... ‘would sit on the banks of the Murray River within view of the Bermah Forest, Onus’s spiritual home, the subject of many of his later paintings and his final resting place.’Ref: Margo Neale, Urban Dingo, The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996. This piece is a fine example of an Australian Aboriginal artwork.
Art Leven (formerly Cooee Art)
Nov. 10, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1946-1996), Butterfly Cave, archival pigment print, ed. 3/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 51.5 x 125 cm. (20.2 x 49.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1946-1996) Butterfly Cave archival pigment print, ed. 3/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Nov. 10, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1946-1996), Frogs and Barmah II, archival pigment print, ed. 23/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 69 x 90 cm. (27.1 x 35.4 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1946-1996) Frogs and Barmah II archival pigment print, ed. 23/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Oct. 13, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Kicking around the Claypan, archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 70 x 82.5 cm. (27.5 x 32.4 in.), sheet: 77 x 89.5 cm. (30.3 x 35.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Kicking around the Claypan archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Sep. 15, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Kicking around the Claypan, archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 70 x 82.5 cm. (27.5 x 32.4 in.), sheet: 77 x 89.5 cm. (30.3 x 35.2 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Kicking around the Claypan archival pigment print, ed. 63/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Sep. 11, 2024
LIN ONUS, (1948-1996), Fish and Lillies, Dingo Springs, archival pigment print, ed. 44/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing), 61 x 81 cm. (24.0 x 31.8 in.), sheet: 70 x 91 cm. (27.5 x 35.8 in.)
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
LIN ONUS (1948-1996) Fish and Lillies, Dingo Springs archival pigment print, ed. 44/499 (unframed/cellophane wrapped with corflute backing) facsimile signature lower right; certificate verso
Lawsons
Aug. 26, 2024
Lin Onus, (1948 - 1996), Pitoa Garkman, 1994, Screenprint, printed in colour from multiple stencils, editioned 36/85, 50 x 74.5cm, Frame: 87 x 118cm
Est: $3,500 - $4,500
Lin Onus (1948 - 1996) Pitoa Garkman, 1994 Screenprint, printed in colour from multiple stencils, editioned 36/85 signed and dated lower right 'Lin Onus '94'. numbered lower left 36/85. titled lower centre 'Pitoa Garkman',
Bargain Hunt Auctions
Aug. 26, 2024
Lin Onus, (1948 - 1996), Gumbirri Garqini, 1996, Screenprint, printed in colour from multiple stencils, editioned 28/85, 50 x 74cm, Frame: 80 x 102cm
Est: $3,500 - $4,500
Lin Onus (1948 - 1996) Gumbirri Garqini, 1996 Screenprint, printed in colour from multiple stencils, editioned 28/85 signed and dated lower right
Bargain Hunt Auctions
Aug. 26, 2024
Lin Onus, Melbourne/Manigrida (1948-1996), Michael and I are Just Slipping down to the pub for a minute 2000 (the Ongoing Adventures of X and ray), Novajet 600 digital print on canvas ed. 10/48 printed May 1999
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Lin Onus Melbourne/Manigrida (1948-1996) Michael and I are Just Slipping down to the pub for a minute 2000 (the Ongoing Adventures of X and ray) Novajet 600 digital print on canvas ed. 10/48 printed May 1999 Inscribed & titled verso Signed & dated by Michael Eather Fire-Works Gallery, Certificate of Authenticity, Signed by Michael Eather
Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers
Aug. 21, 2024
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Butterflies and Flowers (1993) synthetic polymer paint on paper on board 50 x 38 cm frame: original, Howden Studios,
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Butterflies and Flowers (1993) synthetic polymer paint on paper on board signed ‘Lin Onus' lower left 50 x 38 cm frame: original, Howden Studios, Victoria (stamped verso) PROVENANCE Lin Onus, Melbourne Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne (label verso) Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED There and Back: An Exhibition of Recent Paintings and Sculpture by Lin Onus, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 27 July – 4 September 1993
Smith & Singer
Aug. 21, 2024
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Butterflies and Rocks (1993) synthetic polymer paint on board 50 x 38 cm frame: original, Howden Studios, Victoria (
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
LIN ONUS 1948-1996 Butterflies and Rocks (1993) synthetic polymer paint on board signed ‘Lin Onus' lower right 50 x 38 cm frame: original, Howden Studios, Victoria (stamped verso) PROVENANCE Lin Onus, Melbourne Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne (label verso) Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED There and Back: An Exhibition of Recent Paintings and Sculpture by Lin Onus, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 27 July – 4 September 1993
Smith & Singer