Dick Bininyuwuy

The auction results for Bininyuwuy are dominated by two works in particular. His record selling bark, which achieved $55,200 through Sotheby’s as early as 1998, and another sold by Bonham’s in 2013 for $30,500. Both were created in the early to mid 1960s for Dorothy Bennett, acting on behalf of US collector Louis Allan.  The former depicts a Liyagallawumirri Dua Narra ceremony. The bottom of the first panel shows the dance of the sacred wallaby's. The snake at the bottom indicates that this is only for the old men of the tribe. The top of the panel represents the dance of the freshwater turtle, which is performed next. The turtle is making its way to the waterhole, indicated by the dots in the panel. The zig-zag lines in this panel represent the turtle's tracks in the grass. The other two panels are for the fan-palm dance, which is witnessed by all members of the tribe. The white dots in the panel shows the fruit of the palms.   The latter of the two highest selling works, was resold to Reg Grundy in 1998. The painting shows the fan palms bursting with colour and life in the open forest, refreshed by rain. A goanna can be seen poised on the ground. The lower panel represents a waterhole belonging to the artist's mother's clan, the Gupapuyngu of the Yirritja moiety. We can see the long-necked freshwater tortoises in the waterhole and the zigzag pattern  of weeds that cling to their limbs. The lower right-hand panel shows the plains kangaroo (garrtjambal) and the Yirritja lightning snake. A very unusual feature is that the kangaroos (and also the wallaby) are represented in the style of x-ray art, which is more associated with works from Western Arnhem land than the east.  The artist’s 3rd highest price is half that of the former and only 4 others have sold for more than $3,600. In all 43 lots have been offered for sale though a number of these are resales. Bininyuwuy  was recognised as a tallented carver and his highest price for a sculptral piece was for a Mokoy Spirit created in 1960 which sold at the Luczo family sale at Deutscher and Hackett in 2016 for $9,760. This transcended the price paid for the second highest record for a three dimensional piece by the artist. Diver Duck created in 1964 sold at Sotheby’s for $9,600 against a presale estimate of just $3,000-5,000. Bininyuwuy’s success rate at auction is 55% at a healthy average  price of $7,383. His 1960s works are relatively rare and highly rated amongst those paintings of the period by his contemporaries including many of the older artists of that time.