Gurtha
Barrupu Yunupingu, Gumatj / Australian, 1948 - 2012
Gumatj
Yirrkala
Northeast Arnhem Land
Northern Territory
Australia
2010
Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
Overall: 47 1/4 × 23 5/8 in. (120 × 60 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Will Owen and Harvey Wagner
2011.60.5
Geography
Place Made: Australia, Oceania
Period
21st century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
Not on view
Label
When the cooking fire is finished, the name for the ashes left behind is gikawarra. The gurtha (fire) is called liltji or lirrwi. When the burning is finished the black ash is left after the fire has burned down. —BARRUPU YUNUPIŊU From the 2022 exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, curated by Mr. W. Waṉambi; Djambawa Marawili AM; Wäka Munuŋgurr; Yinimala Gumana; Henry Skerritt; and Kade McDonald
Course History
WRIT 5, Indigenous Knowledge and Development, Kenneth Bauer, Winter 2013
ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012
ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012
ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012
ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012
WRIT 5, Nature and Imagination: The Meanings of Place, William Nichols, Fall 2012
SART 29, Photography I, Brian Miller, Fall 2012
SART 30, Photography II, Brian Miller, Fall 2012
SART 25, Painting I, Esme Thompson, Fall 2012
SART 25, Painting I, Enrico Riley, Fall 2012
ANTH 30, Hunters and Gatherers, Nathaniel Dominy, Fall 2012
THEA 28, Dance Composition, Ford Evans, Fall 2012
SART 15, Drawing I, Gerald Auten, Fall 2012
SART 20, SART 71, Drawing II, Drawing III, Colleen Randall, Fall 2012
NAS 42, Gender Issues in Native American Life, Vera Palmer, Fall 2012
ANTH 27.01, Economic Anthropology, Maron Greenleaf, Fall 2022
ANTH 31.01/WGSS 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2022
ENVS 85.01/NAIS 81.04, Land, Love, and Kinship, Nicholas Reo, Fall 2022
GEOG 11.01, Qualitative Methods, Abigail Neely, Fall 2022
GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2022
NAIS 25.01, Indian Country Today, N. Bruce Duthu, Fall 2022
SART 27.01, Printmaking I, Tricia Treacy, Fall 2022
Exhibition History
Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 15, 2012-March 10, 2013; Toledo Museum of Art, April 11-July 14, 2013.
Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala, American University at the Katzen Center, Washington, D.C., January 28-May 21, 2023; The Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, California, 2023-2024; The Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, February 22-July 21, 2024; Asia Society, New York, New York, September 24, 2024-January 5, 2025.
Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Paintings from Yirrkala, Henry Skerritt and Jami Powell, September 3 - December 4, 2022, Luise and Morton Kaish Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Citrin Family Gallery, Northeast Gallery, Engles Family Gallery, Israel Sack Gallery, Rush Family Gallery, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Publication History
Stephen Gilchrist, editor, Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2012, p. 127, no. 19.
Provenance
Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Will Owen (1952-2015) and Harvey Wagner (1931-2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, August 27, 2010 lent to present collection, 2011; given to present collection, 2013.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu