Viewing ofReference Material
Art students and others conducting research are welcome to make an appointment with us to view the works listed in the adjacent table.
It is also recommended for Europeans to use the online search system at KVK (Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog), in which all German and many European scholarly libraries list their available references. Sometimes the works are available for loan.
A list of further references about Australian art, which however are not yet in our reference collection, is also maintained and continually extended.
Literature in our Collection
(A-L)
Cowan, James: Wirrimanu. Aboriginal Art from the Balgo Hills, G+B Arts International, East Roseville1994, ISBN 9768097752
Table of Contents ¦ Cover Text ¦ Review⁄Abstract
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements -7-
Introduction -9-
Early Days -15-
The Dreaming -21-
Landscape as Language -27-
Sand and Body Painting -37-
Iconography -45-
The Artists -51-
The Plates -59-
Notes and References -134-
Bibliography -136-
Index -139-
Cover Text
The Balgo community of Aboriginal artists lies 300 km west of Halls Creek in Western Australia where the vast expanses of the Western Desert to the south meet the rugged, sub-tropical region to the north. The original Balgo community was established by the Catholic Church in the 1930s as a centre for the desert Aborigines who were drifting north into the pastoral stations of the Kimberley. The current art activity began in the 1970s using whatever materials were available. Since funding was provided in the 1980s, the art has developed steadily. Though the first Balgo art works were painted with earth pigments, in common with ceremonial and ground designs, the works have now been freed from ritual constraints by the use of non-traditional materials. The acrylic paintings reproduced here reflect both a secular range of themes and the diversity of artistic approaches and experimentation characteristic of current Balgo art.