Tommy McRae
Before the fight – A war dance, 1890
McRae’s ‘Before the fight – a war dance’, c. 1890, beautifully evokes cloaked and bearded Aboriginal warriors preparing to engage in a form of dispute resolution, a theme that is relatively uncommon in McRae’s oeuvre. In common with his other vignettes that bear witness to aspects of his cultural life, McRae establishes the figures’ presence on country with the merest tangle of lines. Each warrior is silhouetted in motion, and brandishes accurately observed cultural objects of parrying shields, spear throwers and spears, plus a more rarely depicted hunting boomerang.
McRae’s delineation of figure and pose is informed by his assured grasp of human anatomy and enlivened by the distinct markings on some of the warriors’ legs and his strong expression of cultural pride. Although the figures are shown in profile, their energy, animation and sense of community is uppermost. Such ‘inside’ depictions of Indigenous cultural practices provide intimate windows into the lives of First People.
- Artist / Maker
- Tommy McRae (c. 1829—1901)
- Creation Date
- c. 1890
- Place created
- Australia
- Collection
- University Art Collection
- Subjects
- Art and design - drawings
- Materials used
- pen and iron gall ink on paper
- Dimensions
(H x W x D) - sheet 24.1 x 34.4 cm
- Credit line
- The University of Melbourne Art Collection. Purchased through the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund with the support of the Australian Government through the National Cultural Heritage Account, 2024
- Accession number
- 2024.001.001
- Copyright
- Public domain. For image enquiries contact the Museums and Collections Department, Potter Museum of Art. Request Access
