Tjapaltjarri masterpiece traced to groundbreaking 1974 show

In a breakthrough for Australian art history, D’Lan Contemporary has confirmed that a painting by Papunya Tula pioneer Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri is one of twenty works commissioned for Art of Aboriginal Australia – one of the first international exhibitions of contemporary Aboriginal art, held in 1974. The work, Kangaroo (Malu) Dreaming (1973), will feature in the gallery’s tenth anniversary edition of SIGNIFICANT, opening 7 May 2025 across its Melbourne, Sydney and New York locations.

“This is an exciting and important discovery about a painting that represents a pivotal moment in Australian art history,” said gallery director Luke Scholes, who uncovered the painting’s provenance during research. Its origin was confirmed by a hand-written sketch found among papers stored in a cardboard lemonade box – a chance find that authenticated the work as one of the original large-scale chipboard paintings commissioned by the Aboriginal Arts Board in late 1973.

The artwork had remained in a private collection since its original purchase from Realities Gallery in 1977, before re-emerging at auction in 2024, where it was acquired by D’Lan Contemporary’s founder, D’Lan Davidson, for $61,500. While already recognised as a significant painting, its deeper historical context had not yet come to light.

The series to which the painting belongs was created during a financially precarious period for Papunya Tula Artists. Under the stewardship of manager Peter Fannin and the newly formed Aboriginal Arts Board, ten artists were commissioned to paint two large works each – a dramatic scale shift from earlier pieces. These works formed the foundation of a touring exhibition that visited 12 Canadian venues between 1974–76, with most gifted to host institutions or later donated to public collections.

For decades, the whereabouts of several paintings from the series remained unknown. The rediscovery of Tjapaltjarri’s Kangaroo (Malu) Dreaming marks only the third known surviving work. It will be reunited in SIGNIFICANT 2025 with ‘Two Roads’: Tingarri and Kangaroo Dreaming at Tjukulanya by Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi, also from the same commission and considered a pinnacle of the artist’s practice.

Together, these works capture a transformative era in First Nations painting and offer a rare opportunity to experience the origins of a movement that shaped the course of Australian art history.

SIGNIFICANT is showing from 7 May – 3 July 2025. For more information, visit the D’Lan Contemporary website.