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Lot description
Acclaimed as a cultural leader and the seminal figure in establishing the East Kimberley School, Rover Thomas holds a primary place in the history of the Indigenous art movement. Rover settled at Warmun in 1973, the year before Cyclone Tracy laid waste to Darwin. On the morning of Christmas Eve 1974, the cyclone moved directly over Darwin with wind gusts reaching 240 kilometres per hour. Ninety percent of homes were destroyed or badly damaged, and over sixty-five lives were lost. It was the inspiration for this striking and dramatic work. The fearsome winds started from the direction of Darwin harbour, flattened all buildings and trees in the city, moved across the Kimberley's and finally ran out at Port Headland on the West Australian coast. Willy Willy, as the title suggests, depicts a spiralling dust storm which devastated Darwin, in 1974, a striking force sucking up everything in its path. Rover Thomas died on April 11, 1998, and was posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia. The power of his work is reflected in the attention it commanded over his twenty-year career. Since his first exhibition in 1987, there has been a constant demand for his paintings, which are now represented in all major galleries in Australia. He is recognised as one of the most important figures in contemporary Indigenous Art. His legacy is a substantial body of significant paintings which provide an enduring, unique, insight into the spiritual landscape of the Kimberley region and the human relationships and events within it.