Dreamings

The Art of Aboriginal Australia

Edited by Peter Sutton

Viking, Penguin Books, 1989, [First Edition], ISBN 0670824496, colour and black and white illustrations and photographs throughout, black cloth covered with gilded lettering, oversized hardcover, dustjacket

Fair Good Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, cracked hinge (front and back), ex-library with stamps to front and back endpapers, some scuffing and sticker residue to endpapers, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners (see photographs)

“Through illuminating narrative and with over 150 full colour illustrations, this book reveals a culture which is among the most ancient known, yet one whose artistic vitality is remarkable.  In both traditional and more recently introduced media, Aboriginal artists evoke their beliefs about the universe and their relationships with places, animals, plants and other people.  Why they do this, and what their art and beliefs mean in today’s world, are in part the subject of this book.
With insight and clarity, the authors describe the key concept of the ‘Dreaming’, which is the foundation of traditional Aboriginal thought.  In classical Aboriginal culture the Dreaming is the underlying, power-filled ground of reality.  It is also History, because it was in the Dreaming, which is a time out of time, that Ancestral Beings moved about, forming the landscape and creating the plants, animals and peoples of the known world.  Images of these Beings, of where they travelled and lived and of their experiences, make up the greatest single source of imagery in Aboriginal art.  These Beings are the Dreamings.”