Title
Pukumani grave posts
1958
Artists
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Details
- Alternative title
- Tutini (Pukumani grave posts)
- Place where the work was made
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Melville Island
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Northern Territory
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Australia
- Date
- 1958
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- natural pigments on iron wood
- Dimensions
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274 x 250.0 x 250 cm overall
:
a - Tutini, 198.1 x 24.1 cm
b - Tutini, 243.8 x 28 cm
c - Tutini, 200.6 x 21.6 cm
d - Tutini, 210.8 x 27.9 cm
e - Tutini, 274.2 x 30.5 cm
f - Tutini, 185.4 x 21.6 cm
g - Tutini, 221 x 25.4 cm
h - Tutini, 147.3 x 29.2 cm
i - Tutini, 165.1 x 29.2 cm
j - Tutini, 214.6 x 31.8 cm
k - Tutini, 149.8 x 26.8 cm
l - Tutini, 238.8 x 24.1 cm
m - Tutini, 167.7 x 21.6 cm
n - Tutini, 232.4 x 24.1 cm
o - Tutini, 185.4 x 24.7 cm
p - Tutini, 170.2 x 30.5 cm
q - Tutini, 254 x 33 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Dr Stuart Scougall 1959
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- IA1.1959.a-q
- Copyright
- © The artists/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Laurie Nelson Mungatopi
Works in the collection
- Artist information
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Bob Apuatimi
Works in the collection
- Artist information
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Jack Yarunga
Works in the collection
- Artist information
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Don Burakmadjua
Works in the collection
- Artist information
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Charlie Kwangdini
Works in the collection
- Artist information
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Tiwi artist
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
In 1958 senior Tiwi artists at Milikapiti (Snake Bay) on Melville Island were commissioned by Dr Stuart Scougall and then Gallery deputy director Tony Tuckson to create 17 Tutuni or Pukumani graveposts. The first major commission of Aboriginal work by a gallery of modern art, this group of Tutuni broke new ground, establishing Aboriginal culture within an art context.
Heralding a shift in tradition, the artists made the conscious choice to produce Tutuni for an outside audience. They employed traditional techniques of carving and painting, but made the sculptures from ironwood, rather than the traditional bloodwood, which is reserved for ceremonies.
The Pukumani ceremony is unique to Tiwi. It is a 'final goodbye', with singing and dancing accompanying the placement of Tutuni around the gravesite. The first Pukumani ceremony was led by Tiwi ancestor Purukuparli for his baby, Jinani, who was the first person to die; as a result, today all Tiwi must follow his fate.
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Places
Where the work was made
Melville Island
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Gamarada, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1996–16 Feb 1997
A material thing - Objects from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 Aug 1998–09 Feb 1999
Another Country, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Jul 1999–02 Apr 2000
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 30 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, (illus.).
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, 142 (colour illus.).
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Art Gallery of New South Wales: highlights from the collection, Sydney, 2008, 32-33 (colour illus.).
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'Tribal Galleries', pg. 42-47, Sydney, 1984, 42-43 (colour illus), 45.
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), Exhibitions events - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Feb 1999-Mar 1999, 10 (colour illus.).
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Mark Fenech, Art education, 'City Museums & Park Museums', pg. 46-51, Virginia, Jan 2003, 49 (illus.).
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Jennifer Hoff, The Oxford companion to Aboriginal art and culture, '7.6 Tiwi graveposts', pg. 174-179, South Melbourne, 2000, 175 (illus.).
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art', pg. 208-241, Sydney, 1999, 209 (colour illus.).
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Susan McCulloch, Alan McCulloch and Emily McCulloch Childs, The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art, ‘Australian Aboriginal art and artists: Exhibitions’, pg. 16-21, Carlton, 2006, 19 (colour illus.), 74. Group photograph of 'Seventeen ceremonial poles from the Pukamani ceremony' 1958. Commissioned by T. Tuckson and gift of S. Scougall.
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Ewen McDonald, AGNSW Collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 96, 97 (colour illus.).
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John McDonald, Art and Australia (Vol. 40, No. 3), 'Pumpuni Jilamara: Tiwi art: creative freedom and cosmic wonder', pg. 394-395, St Leonards, Mar 2003-May 2003, 395 (colour illus.). Review of the exhibition 'Pumpuni Jilamara: Tiwi art', held at the AGNSW 2002-2003.
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Steven Miller, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘Cultural capital: Key moments in the collecting of Australian Indigenous art’, pg. 29-41, Sydney, 2007, 32-33 (illus.).
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Hal Missingham (Director), Purchases and acquisitions for 1959, Sydney, 1959, 47.
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Howard Morphy, The Cambridge companion to Australian Art, 'Coming to terms with Aboriginal art in the 1960s', pg. 153-167, Port Melbourne, 2011, 157, 159, 267, 357, 365. fig.no. 12.2 (colour illus.), between pg. 156 and 157; fig.no. 20.1 (illus.), fig.no. 20.2 (colour illus.), between pg. 252 and 253.
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Howard Morphy, Crossing cultures: the Owen and Wager collection of contemporary Aboriginal Australian art at the Hood Museum of Art, 'Aboriginal Australian Art in America', pg. 18-31, Hanover, 2012, 23 (colour illus.). fig.no. 2.4
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John Mundine and Renée Porter, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Aboriginal and Melanesian', pg. 57-71, Sydney, 1988, 58-59 (colour illus.), 60, 64.
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Margo Neale, Yiribana, Sydney, 1994, 11, 12 (colour illus.).
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Hetti Perkins and Ken Watson, A material thing - objects from the collection, Sydney, 1999, 8 (colour illus.).
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Hetti Perkins, Art + soul: a journey into the world of Aboriginal art, 'Dreams + nightmares', pg. 88-153, Carlton, 2010, 116, 118-119 (colour illus.), 280.
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Hetti Perkins, Art and Australia (Vol. 47, No. 1), 'A privileged moment: Retracing Tony Tuckson's pioneering journey north', pg. 108-117, Sydney, 2009, 110 (colour illus.), 111, 112, 117. NOTE: Hetti Perkins interviewing Margaret Tuckson; Page 110 is photograph of Harry Turnball installing Pukumani grave posts at the Gallery, Page 113-116 are photographs documenting processes in their creation.
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Hetti Perkins and Ken Watson, Aboriginal art collections: highlights from Australia's public museums and galleries, 'Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney', pg. 40-45, Sydney, 2001, 40 (colour illus.). plate no. 21
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Zoë Ross (Editor), Eyewitness travel guides: Australia, 'Botanic gardens and the domain', pg. 100-111, London, 1998, 107 (colour illus.). This illustration details all 17 'Pukamani grave posts' in the AGNSW collection; Acc. no.s P1-P17.1959.
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John Saxby (Editor), Look, 'Art that made me: Ildiko Kovacs', pg. 14-15, Sydney, Apr 2016, 15 (colour illus.).
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John Saxby, Sydney Morning Herald, no 15348, 'A window opens on new stories about building the collection', pg. 26-28, Sydney, 04 Jun 1887, 26.
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Andrew Sayers, Australian art, 'Icon and abstraction 1951-68', pg. 174-195, Oxford, 2001, 192, 193 (illus.). plate no. 111
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Daniel Thomas, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'The Art Gallery of New South Wales', pg. 10-15, Sydney, Jan 1960, 14. General reference
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J.A. Tuckson, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'Aboriginal grave posts', pg. 32-34, Sydney, Jul 1960, 32, 33 (illus.), 34.
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Tony Tuckson, Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Sydney, 1973, 2 (illus.). cat.no. A1
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Ken Watson, Look, 'Pumpuni Jilamara (Good design)', pg. 24-25, Sydney, Mar 2002, 24, 25 (colour illus.).
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Judith White, Look, 'Looking back at the AGNSW… when there was only one curator: Daniel Thomas in conversation with Steven Miller' edited, pg. 31-34, Sydney, Dec 2009-Jan 2010, 31, 33 (colour illus.).
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