Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi Pintupi, circa 1920-1987
Mystery Sand Mosaic, 1974
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas board
19 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ x 17 ¾ inches (50.64 x 45.09 cm)
Photo: Tony De Camillo for the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University
Provenance
The Artist painted at Alice Springs, Northern Territory, November 1974
Collection of Bill Copland
Sotheby's, Fine Aboriginal and Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 17 June, 1996, lot 271
Collection of John and Barbara Wilkerson, New York
Exhibitions
Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya, The Herbert F Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 10 January - 5 April 2009; Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles, 3 May - 2 August 2009; Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, 1 September - 5 December 2009
Abstraction & the Dreaming: Aboriginal Paintings from Australia’s Western Desert (1971 – Present), Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Utah, 11 September - 12 December 2015
Australian Consulate-General New York, Official Consul General Residence, New York, 5 October 2021 - 20 October 2022
60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art, UOVO, New York, May 2023
Publications
Sotheby's, Fine Aboriginal and Contemporary Art, Melbourne, June 17 1996, p. 83
Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya, A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press: Melbourne, 2004, p. 420, painting 386
Roger Benjamin, Fred Meyers, Vivien Johnson, et al., Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya, The Herbert F Johnson Museum, Cornell University, 2009
Vanessa Merlino and Luke Scholes, 60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art, UOVO, 2023 (illus.)
Thomas Connors, The Magazine Antiques, Cultural Crossings, July/August 2025, p.130 - 141
“The design uses flat patterning and shapes not previously recorded, and the density of its dotting linear quality is very powerful and vital. The four oval shapes at the bottom of the painting are ceremonial objects or sacred sticks used in ceremonies.” (Papunya, A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, 2004, p. 420)
Related artworks
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![Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Children’s Water Dreaming (Version 2) [formerly Water Story], 1972](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Children’s Water Dreaming (Version 2) [formerly Water Story], 1972 -
Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Classic Pintupi Water Dreaming [formerly Water Dreaming], 1972
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Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Tingarri Ceremony at Ilingawurngawurrnga, 1974
![Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Children’s Water Dreaming (Version 2) [formerly Water Story], 1972](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-twocollections/usr/images/artworks/main_image/items/5f/5f1c4f9b70c7461588df97e635aeb974/cat24_sltjungurrayi.jpg)
![Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Classic Pintupi Water Dreaming [formerly Water Dreaming], 1972](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-twocollections/usr/images/artworks/main_image/items/92/92b007ac9e424af4a354ea967baf27f1/cat25_sltjungurrayi.jpg)
