Lissadell Station Country, 1995

natural earth pigments on canvas

65 x 130 cm

Est. $18,000 – $25,000

Provenance: Commissioned from and purchased directly from the artist at her residence, Warmun Community, Turkey Creek, WA, 1995 Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio, Vic Private Collection, Vic, acquired from the above Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio
Artwork story: McKenzie settled at Warmun in 1973, taught Gija language and culture at the local school, and was deeply committed to ceremonial life. She began painting in the late 1980s, encouraged by her lifelong friend Rover Thomas. She liked to mix natural earth pigments to make new colours, including the soft pinks and purples that became a hallmark of her work, and her paintings mapped Country, blending landscape with her Dreamings, historical events, and episodes from her life. Neil McLeod OAM commissioned this work directly from McKenzie at her residence in 1995, purchasing it from her in person. McKenzie described the subject as country near Lissadell Station going towards Texas Station, with a winter waterfall at the centre. Against a deep rose-burgundy ground, forms in warm brown-ochre describe the rounded ranges and escarpments of the country in two registers, each outlined in white dot-work. At the centre, a thin vertical line of pale grey runs the full height of the canvas: the winter waterfall, spare and precise, the single element McKenzie named. Two small ghost gum trees mark the right of the upper field. It is a composition of total confidence, the landscape known rather than observed.

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Sale 3 · Lot 32

Queenie Nakarra McKenzie

c.1915 – 1998

Region: Kimberley
Community: Warmun (Turkey Creek)
Language group: Gija (Kija, Gidja, Kitja)

Lissadell Station Country, 1995

natural earth pigments on canvas

65 x 130 cm

Est. $18,000 – $25,000

Provenance: Commissioned from and purchased directly from the artist at her residence, Warmun Community, Turkey Creek, WA, 1995 Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio, Vic Private Collection, Vic, acquired from the above Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Neil McLeod Fine Arts Studio
Artwork story: McKenzie settled at Warmun in 1973, taught Gija language and culture at the local school, and was deeply committed to ceremonial life. She began painting in the late 1980s, encouraged by her lifelong friend Rover Thomas. She liked to mix natural earth pigments to make new colours, including the soft pinks and purples that became a hallmark of her work, and her paintings mapped Country, blending landscape with her Dreamings, historical events, and episodes from her life. Neil McLeod OAM commissioned this work directly from McKenzie at her residence in 1995, purchasing it from her in person. McKenzie described the subject as country near Lissadell Station going towards Texas Station, with a winter waterfall at the centre. Against a deep rose-burgundy ground, forms in warm brown-ochre describe the rounded ranges and escarpments of the country in two registers, each outlined in white dot-work. At the centre, a thin vertical line of pale grey runs the full height of the canvas: the winter waterfall, spare and precise, the single element McKenzie named. Two small ghost gum trees mark the right of the upper field. It is a composition of total confidence, the landscape known rather than observed.