Crusoe Kurddal (1960/1961 - 2020) was an Aboriginal Australian artist known for his Mimih and Yawkyawk sculptures, and acting roles. [1]
Crusoe Kurddal | |
---|---|
Born | 1961 |
Died | 2020 |
Nationality | Australian |
Known for | Aboriginal Australian art |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Owen Yalandja (brother), Timothy Wulanjbirr (brother) |
Crusoe Kurddal was an artist, dancer, singer, and actor who lived and worked in Maningrida, an aboriginal community in central Arnhem Land of the Northern Territory of Australia. Kurddal's work is known for its inclusion of Mimih figures, and he inherited the right to paint these figures from his late father, Crusoe Kuningbal. [1] Mimih are tall, slender spirits that live in the plateau of Arnhem Land. Kurddal's brother, Owen Yalandja, also inherited the rights to paint Mimih figures, and the two brothers continue to make sculptures of Mimih figures in the vein of their late father's artwork. [2] Presently, Kurddal has been making sculptures of Yawkyawk figures for ceremonial purpose and also sale. [3] Along with working as a visual artist, Kurddal was also an actor, and he starred in the 2006 film Ten Canoes as Ridjimiraril. [4]
Crusoe Kurddal started his artistic career with Mimih spirits as his primary subject matter. [2] Originally from the Maningrida region of central Arnhem Land, the stories and depictions of the Mimih have been around locally for many years but sculptures are newer. The mimih are spirits from the rock country that are thought to be long, skinny beings that live and move within the cracks of the rocks. Mimih sculptures are usually carved from thin trunks of softwood trees. The body forms have humorous insinuation to them because of many stories. Traditionally Mimih's had traditional rarrk designs, but Kurddal's father utilised small dots and passed it down to his sons. [5]
Later, Crusoe Kurddal switched to sculpting Yawkyawk figures. Yawkyawks are similar to mermaids with the head of a woman and the body of a fish. He carved his sculptures out of wooden poles. [3] Kurrdal made the switch to Yawkyawk figures because he believed they were more easily understood by non-Indigenous viewers as compared to his previous works that depicted sacred ceremonial iconography. [2]
Crusoe Kurddal's father, Crusoe Kuningbul, heavily influenced his work. Kunningbul was born in the Middle Liverpool River region, and during WWII he moved to Milingimbi. After the war, he began bark painting at Maningrida, but he finally relocated to Barrihdjowkkeng where he ultimately raised Crusoe and his brothers Owen Yalandja and Tim Wulanibirr. Throughout his prolific career, Kuningbul depicted Mimih spirits through sculptures and in bark paintings. The slim and elongated Mimih spirits live amongst Arnhem Land plateau's rocks. The spirits are said to come out at night through the rock crevices to look after and protect the land. They can mystically appear to hunters in the region to trap them in their rocky realm and magically disappear soon after. Depictions of the Mimih spirits is abundant in the region's rock art, and some say that the Mimih painted the art themselves to reveal their way of life. [6]
Kunningbul was the first and only Maningrida artist to depict Mimih figures in sculptural form from the 1960s to the 1980s, despite the subject being a commonplace in bark paintings from this area. He created these figures from 1968 until his death in 1984. Kunningbul also performed traditional dances and songs, and sometimes, he performed alongside his Mimih sculptures in Kuninjku trade ceremonies called Mamurrng — the sculptures were specifically developed for these ceremonies. [7] Kunningbul's sons talk about their father's carvings by saying that “he made it (carvings) for sale and for shows as well. He used to put it (the carving) in the middle and would dance around it.” [8] Mamurrng ceremonies are traditional ceremonies that celebrate male births. [9] After Kunningbul's death, Kurddal and his brother Owen Yalandja inherited the right to create Mimih sculptures from Kunningbul. [2] His brother, Owen Yalandja, is renowned for his wood carvings and painted designs of Yawkyawk. Yawkyawk was first carved by Yalandja at his country's waterhole in Barridjohwkeng. Yalandja has tested with different carving methods to make a varying array of sizes for the forms—tree sized to trunk and branch sized—and utilizes scaly textures and warps to represent marine and fish features. [6]
Kurddal focused on creating the Mimih spirits and learned to carve these figurines in a similar way to his father, but he subsequently evolved the iconography in his own unique fashion. [6] At first, he continued to take after his father's usage of the red base colour and dot patterning. During the mid 1980s, Kurddal was pushed and inspired to make larger sculptures than his father Crusoe Kuningbal, and now there are currently massive sized Mimih in many public art collections. Many Kuninjku people started to carve comparable models in the late 1980s, but Owen Yalandja and Crusoe Kurddal are the most prominent pioneers in these sculptural depictions. [10] Kurddal's 1985 sculpture entitled Mimih Spirit serves as an example of one of Kurddal's Mimih sculptures that continues in the vein of Kuningbul's artwork. Kurddal began to make Mimih sculptures that are significantly larger in scale than his father's in the mid-1980s. [11]
Later on, he started to work with the natural and organic shapes found in tree trunks to produce pieces that had more curvature such as with Mimih Spirit (2007) and with tree forks to produce "two headed" Mimih, or one spirit perched on top of another. Being a talented dancer, Kurddal aimed to display the trickery and tomfoolery of this spirit in his own physical movements and sculptures by using the same sense of humor in his creations. Through the help of Kurddal's inspiration, the techniques and methods of these figures are now prominent among many Kuninjku artists. [6]
Crusoe Kurddal's father—Crusoe Kuningbal—Kurdddal himself, and Owen Yalandja pioneered the creation of Mimih sculptures, but their bodies of work influenced the work of succeeding aboriginal artists. Since the 1980s, other Kuninjku people have been producing sculptures of similar figures because of Kuningbal and, later, his sons; however, Kurddal and Yalandja made the most innovative strides. [11] Now, many Kununjku artist exhibitions showcase a little forest of Mimih, displaying the new diverse painting approaches and styles of the new generation of artists [6]
Kurddal is renowned for producing tribal items in addition to working in oils and acrylics. Since 1999, there have been 18 of Kurddal’s pieces put up for auction, of which 11—or 61%—have been purchased. The artist's A Pair of Mimih Spirits, which Deutscher and Hackett sold in March 2010 for $9,000, received the highest price ever recorded. This year, no works have been made available for purchase, and the latest sale we have information on for the artist was in 2021. The Art Gallery of NSW and National Gallery of Victoria both have Crusoe pieces in their collections. [12]
Below is a list of sales generated from Crusoe Kurddal works at auction houses, from 1999 to the present:
Even though Crusoe Kurddal was a master woodcarver, he was also in high demand as an actor in the Australian film business. Without the extensive and brokerage services offered to artists, this type of lifestyle would not be feasible. [6] In 2006, Crusoe Kurddal played the leading role as Ridjimiraril in Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes . It was the first movie filmed entirely using Australian Aboriginal languages and is a moral tale set in Arnhem Land. Ten Canoes was a critically acclaimed film, winning Best Film at the Australian Film Institute Awards [15] and Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Festival de Cannes. [16] Set in Australian Arnhem Land, Ten Canoes narrates a primal adventure story about forbidden love. The narrator gives a story within the story about his ancestors while on a hunt. The narrator describes the great warrior and tribal chief, Ridjimiraril (Crusoe Kurddal), with three wives—one jealous, one clever, and one beautiful. The narrator describes the story as one of Ridjimiraril's wives disappears and Ridjimiraril suspects that a visiting stranger has kidnapped her. He begins on a path of revenge, determined to save his wife. The story continues with all that is to come in his route of vengeance. [17] In addition to Ten Canoes, Crusoe Kurddal has also acted in the movies Australia and Mad Max: Fury Road . He was also a musician who acted and created music for the drama The Sleeping Warrior. [4]
Crusoe Kurddal died in 2020. [19]
Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving, rock carving, watercolour painting, sculpting, ceremonial clothing and sandpainting; art by Indigenous Australians that pre-dates European colonisation by thousands of years, up to the present day.
Maningrida is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is 500 km (311 mi) east of Darwin, and 300 km (186 mi) north east of Jabiru. It is on the North Central Arnhem Land coast of the Arafura Sea, on the estuary of the Liverpool River.
David Malangi, also known as David Malangi Daymirringu, nicknamed Dollar Dave, was an Indigenous Australian Yolngu artist from the Northern Territory. He was one of the most well-known bark painters from Arnhem Land and a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. He became known for his work being printed without his permission on the Australian one-dollar note, which led to a copyright dispute.
John Mawurndjul is a highly regarded Australian contemporary Indigenous artist. He uses traditional motifs in innovative ways to express spiritual and cultural values, He is especially known for his distinctive and innovative creations based on the traditional cross-hatching style of bark painting technique known as rarrk.
Ten Canoes is a 2006 Australian historical drama/docudrama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The film is set in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, before Western influence, and tells the story of a group of ten men doing traditional hunting in canoes. A narrator tells the story, and the overall format is that of a moral tale.
Yirawala was an Aboriginal Australian leader, labourer and bark painter, most known for his artistic works. He was born in the Northern Territory, which at the time was responsibility of the state of South Australia, and died in Minjilang, otherwise known as Croker Island. He was extremely influential in promoting the acceptance of Aboriginal works as fine art, instead of "ethnographic material."[14] He was intensely concerned with the preservation of his culture, and he played an important role as an educator and mentor for young Aboriginal artists. His works can now be found in galleries across the world, and his influence lives on through the artists he inspired and the innovations he introduced to the artistic community. When Harold Thomas, the creator of the Aboriginal Flag was asked “Who do you think were our greatest artists?”, he responded: "I would have no hesitation to say Yirawala and Mandarkk. If I were to compare the two with any others I would say Yirawala is our Picasso, Mandarkk our Braque."
Bardayal "Lofty" Nadjamerrek was a Kunwinjku Aboriginal artist of the Mok clan. He belonged to the Duwa moiety and spoke the Kundedjnjenghmi language. He is currently referred to by his skin and clan as "Wamud Namok", following the Kunwinjku custom of avoiding use of the name of deceased persons.
The production of sculptural fibre objects has a long history within Aboriginal Australian culture. Historically, such objects had practical or ceremonial purposes, and some appeared in both contexts. The terms “art” and “craft” are difficult to apply in historical contexts, as they are not originally Aboriginal conceptual divisions. However, in a contemporary context, these objects are now generally regarded as contemporary art whenever they are presented as such. This categorisation is often applied to objects with historically practical or ceremonial applications, as well as a growing category of new fibre forms which have been innovated in the past decades and produced for a fine art market. The border between Aboriginal fibre sculpture and fibre craft is not clearly delineated, and some works may be regarded as either depending on the context of their display and use.
The Bininj are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. The sub-groups of Bininj are sometimes referred to by the various language dialects spoken in the region, that is, the group of dialects known as Bininj Kunwok; so the people may be named the Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi (Gundjeihmi), Manyallaluk Mayali, Kundedjnjenghmi and Kune groups.
Owen Yalandja is Aboriginal Australian carver, painter and singer of the Kuninjku people from western Arnhem Land, Australia. A senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, who are the Indigenous custodians of an important site related to female water spirits known as yawkyawk, Yalandja has become internationally renowned for his painted carvings of these spirits, as well as his paintings on eucalyptus bark.
Kay Lindjuwanga is an Aboriginal Australian artist from Maningrida in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is known for her bark paintings which often make use of Aboriginal rrark designs.
Crusoe Kuningbal or Guningbal (1922–1984) was an Aboriginal Australian artist from Maningrida in the Northern Territory, known for a pointillist technique and tall, slim sculptures of mimih spirits. In addition to his art, Kuningbal was a prominent cultural figure in his region, as he sang and performed in important ceremonies, most notably that of the Mamurrng.
Dorothy Djukulul is a traditional Australian Aboriginal artist who lives in Ramingining in Central Arnhem Land. She speaks Ganalbingu and is a part of the Gurrumba Gurrumba clan, who identify as being a part of the Yirrija moiety.
Mithinarri Gurruwiwi (c.1929–1976) was an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Gälpu clan of the Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. His first name is sometimes spelt Midinari, Mitinari, or Mithinari.
Dick Binyinyuwuy Djarrankuykuy (c. 1928–1982) was a leading Aboriginal artist from the island of Milingimbi off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. He belonged to the Djarrankuykuy clan of the Djambarrpuyngu people. During World War II he was among the group of Aboriginal men enlisted by Squadron Leader Donald Thomson for the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit to protect Australia's northern shoreline from Japanese invasion. He became an artist after the war, in the 1950s.
Peter Marralwanga (1916–1987), also known as Djakku, was an Aboriginal Australian artist known for his paintings. He was a member of the Kardbam clan of the Bininj people, and spoke the Kuninjku language. In addition to being a ceremonial leader, Marralwanga also helped found the Marrkolidjban outstation near Maningrida in 1972, with the help of artists Yirawala, Mick Mandayngu and Curly Barrkadubu. For most of his life, Marralwanga lived at the remote outstation, but briefly lived at the government settlement at Maningrida.
Mick Kubarkku (c.1922-2008) was regarded as a prominent Aboriginal Australian artist most associated with Kuninjku modernism.
Anniebell Marrngamarrnga is an Aboriginal Australian artist from Maningrida in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is well known for her large-scale, intricate fibre sculptures.
Kamarrang Bob Burruwal (1952–2021) was a contemporary Rembarrnga Aboriginal artist from central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is best remembered for his bark paintings, carvings, and fibre sculptures, many of which he worked on collaboratively alongside his wife, Lena Yarinkura.
Jimmy Njiminjuma (1947–2004) was a painter known for being one of the most renowned artists from the western Arnhem Land region.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)