Mithinarri Gurruwiwi | National Museum of Australia

Gälpu clan, Dhuwa moiety

Portrait of a man. - click to view larger image — Mithinarri Gurruwiwi

About 1929–1976

Mithinarri was a prolific painter. He is noted for a style of painting that features repeated motifs organised in patterns that suggest the rhythms of ritual performance.

His favourite subject was the Wäwilak Sisters and Wititj the Python in Gälpu clan territory.

Mithinarri’s paintings appear in major public collections throughout Australia, in Paris and at the University of Virginia. They have also featured in several major exhibitions, including: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, which toured North America in 1974–76; Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition at the National Gallery of Australia in 1989; and Yirrkala Artists: Everywhen at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2009.

Paintings in the exhibition

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts three yellow frogs, a bird and flower-like features with spotted centres and oval shapes around them. The painting has a background of vertical and horizontal crosshatched designs in red, white and black. - click to view larger image — *Frogs at Mirarrmina*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts on the right a straight snake painted black with coloured dots. On the left there is a curved snake which is painted yellow with lines of white egg-shapes along its body. Surrounding the two snakes are nine black, red and yellow lizards. The background has a pattern of alternating vertical and horizontal blocks of crosshatched lines in black, red and white. - click to view larger image — *Male and Female Wititj*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts sixteen rectangles arranged in four rows of four. Each rectangle is half yellow with the other half alternating in colours of red or black. The rectangles are set against vertical crosshatched stripes of white, red and black with a crosshatched band at either end of the painting. - click to view larger image — *Stone Axe Heads*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. The painting is divided into four panels with a python in the centre which has human legs and feet. The top panel depicts two birds, the next panel depicts three, the third panel depicts two birds and a lizard and the lowest panel, two birds. The painting has a background of vertical stripes of crosshatching with horizontal bands crossing these at intervals. - click to view larger image — *Wititj the Gälpu Python*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts a large dotted snake with a yellow head in a coiled position, There are four yellow birds below this and six yellow goannas above it. The background has a crosshatched pattern in white, brown and red. - click to view larger image — *Wititj the Gälpu Snake*

John Namerredje Guymala

Daily, free Talking Blak to History

All these bark paintings are part of the National Museum of Australia’s collection. © the artist or the artist’s estate, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency 2013, unless otherwise specified. These images must not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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