Eubena Nampitjin, Puntutjarlpa, 2001

Lot description

EUBENA NAMPITJIN 1920 - 2013 Puntutjarlpa, 2001 acrylic on linen 40 x 30 cm; 43 x 33 cm (framed) PROVENANCE Warlayirti Artists, WA Cat No. 369/01 Palya Art, NT Cat No. 0629 Private collection, NSW Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Warlayirti Artists Eubena Nampitjin began painting in 1988 alongside her second husband, Wimmitji Tjapangarti. Their early works portrayed Dreaming sites, Country, and ancestral travels in the most intimate cartographic detail and remain among the finest paintings ever produced by artists from the Balgo Hills community. After the death of her daughter, Ema Gimme Nungurrayi, in 1993, Nampitjin returned to her birthplace near Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route and did not paint again until she was encouraged to return to Balgo Hills two years later. From that time on, she painted independently in a looser, more gestural style, using larger dots and a freer hand. Her palette shifted to vibrant reds, yellows, and pinks. Over time, her late-career works took on a quality akin to finger painting, with fluid brushstrokes and only the occasional passage dotted with a stick. Nampitjin's work, with its trademark use of vibrant colour, bold patterning, and intuitive, expressive handling, creates an extraordinary sense of presence — as seen in this depiction of her Country along the middle stretches of the Canning Stock Route, near Kunawarritji (Well 33). Eubena has painted a prominent waterhole, or tjumu, from the Country of her youth. The tjumu featured in the centre of the painting is called Punutjarlpa, which is an inta, or ‘living water' place — meaning it never runs dry. The tali, or sand dunes, surround Punutjarlpa. © EUBENA NAMPITJIN / Copyright Agency, 2025