Painting of a Female Figure
| Culture | Australia |
|---|---|
| Title | Painting of a Female Figure |
| Date | 20th century |
| Medium | Bark and pigment |
| Dimensions | Object: 31 1/2 × 12 1/2 in. (80 × 31.8 cm) Overall: 31 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (80 x 31.8 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 80.2.1 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
A painting on a rectangular portion of bark that depicts a large female form surrounded by bound ferns. The woman's breasts point to the sides from her armpits, and the woman's knees are bent outward.
Most Australian bark paintings are from Arnhem Land in the northern part of the country. Like their less-portable counterparts, rock paintings and engravings, bark paintings refer to the Dreaming (also called the Dreamtime), a term coined in the late nineteenth century that refers to aboriginal cosmology. The Dreaming provides a framework indicating how life should be lived to maintain harmony not only with other people, but also with the land, its creatures, the ancestors, and the cosmos. People who share the same Dreamings express their associations through imagery appropriate to that particular Dreaming, which is fully understood only by members. Bark paintings such as this depict mimis, ancestral spirit beings and narratives based on the artist’s Dreaming.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Painting of a Female Figure | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=80.2.1