Biography

Skin name: Gamarrang
Language: Liyagalawumirr
Dreaming: Dhuwa
Clan: Liyagalawumirr

Born in c1925 in the bush on the outskirts of Ramingining, Central Arnhem Land, Gudthaykudthay was the only child to father Lika and mother Ganinydja one of the Djardewitijibi Tribe. Gudthaykudthay’s mother’s country is Ramingining, making him a Senior Custodian (djunngayi) of Ramingining. Gudthaykudthay paints both his mother’s and his father’s country.

Before painting, Gudthaykudthay worked as a stockman, truck driver, fencer, and crocodile hunter selling crocodile skins to the Milingimbi Mission.

Gudthaykudthay learnt the skills of painting in the 1960s, at the Nangalala Mission on the Glyde River, under the instruction of his half-brother Mirritja.  Gudthaykudthay soon developed an individual style consisting of abstract landscape designs, which were exhibited as fine art, devoid of ethnographical details in their exhibition (Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney, 1983).

Gudthaykudthay’s first recorded exhibition, Traditions and Innovations, was held in 1979 at the Legislative Assembly in Darwin. It was not till 1983 that Gudthaykudthay had his first solo exhibition, held at the Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney. This exhibition consisted of bark paintings, featuring abstract landscape designs and clan patterns. The National Gallery of Australia acquired two of these bark paintings.

Gudthaykudthay created five Dupan (Hollow Logs) for the renowned 1988 Aboriginal Memorial, an installation of 200 Dupan commemorating the deaths of indigenous people since white occupation. The installation was exhibited at the Biennial of Sydney-Beneath the Southern Cross, before moving to the National Gallery of Australia where it in on permanent display.

Gudthaykudthay completed a printmaking course in 1990s, at Charles Darwin University, focusing on lithography, lino cut and screen-printing. Gudthaykudthay has produced numerous successful prints, commonly with the stories of the Wagilag Sisters, Wititj (olive python) and the Native Cat – his personal totem. In 2013, Gudthaykudthay further completed a Certificate II in Visual Arts at the Charles Darwin University.

Gudthaykudthay featured in the 1967 documentary film Across the Top by Malcolm Douglas. The film documented traditional indigenous life in Arnhem Land, the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York.

In 2005, Gudthaykudthay made his big screen debut as The Sorcerer in the landmark Australian film Ten Canoes. The film was a great success and aided in educating the world about Yolngu culture in Ramingining, Central Arnhem Land.

Gudthaykudthay has experienced great success both nationally and internationally, with six individual solo shows, and over 50 group exhibitions. Gudthaykudthay’s artwork continues to be sought after by private and public collectors.

Collections

Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands

Artbank, Sydney

Art Gallery of New  South Wales, Sydney.

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

British Museum, Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, London, UK

Charles Darwin University, Darwin

Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide

Ganter Myer Collection

Kluge-Rhue Collection, University of Virginia, USA

Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany

Milingimbi Collection, MECA, Milingimbi Educational and Cultural Association

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

Museum of Contemporary Art, Ramingining Collection, Sydney

Museum of Mankind, British Museum, London

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA

Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane

University of Queensland, Anthropology Museum, St Lucia.

University of Technology, Sydney.

Publications

Caruana, W., 1987, Australian Aboriginal Art, a Souvenir Book of Aboriginal Art in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Parkes, Australian Capital Territory.

Caruana, W. (ed.), 1989, Windows on the Dreaming, Ellsyd Press, Sydney.

Caruana, Wally and Lendon Nigel, 1997, The Painters of the Wagilag Sisters Story 1937-1997, National Gallery of Australia.

Douglas, M. and Oldmeadow, D., 1972, Across the Top, Rigby Ltd, Adelaide.

1993, Aratjara, Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary Works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists, exhibition. catalogue. (conceived and designed by Bernard Luthi in collaboration with Gary Lee), Dumont, Buchverlag, Koln.

Isaacs, Jennifer, 1999, Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, Australia.

Kleinert, Sylvia & Neale, Margo, 2000, The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford University Press, Australia

Lendon, Nigel, 2001, Beyond Translation: Learning to look at Central Arnhem Land paintings, in Outside In: Research engagements with Arnhem Land Art, exhibition. catalogue. Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra.

Mundine, Djon, 1992, Philip Gudthaykudthay: Aspects of his World, in Painting and Sculpture from Ramingining: Jimmy Wululu and Philip Gudthaykudthay, exhib.cat. Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra.

Mundine, Djon, 2001, The Native Born: Objects and Representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land, MCA & Bula’bula Arts

Neale, M., 1994, Yiribana, exhibition. catalogue., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Perkins H. ‘Beyond the Year of Indigenous Peoples’ in Art and Australia 1993 Vol. 31 No 1 p 98-101.

Tweedie, P., 1985, This My Country, A View of Arnhem Land, William Collins Pty Ltd, Sydney.

Watson, Ken, 2004, Philip Gudthaykudthay, in Tradition Today: Indigenous Art in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, AGNSW, Sydney p 52

Commissions

2010, Ramingining Men’s Safe House Murals (Greening Australia)