Luke Taylor is a Senior Curator at the National Museum of Australia. He has worked for the Australian Federal Government's Review of the Aboriginal Artsa and Crafts Industry, and held a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. In 1995/6 he was a visiting scholar at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan. He has published articles on Australian Aboriginal art and society, and he is co-editor of Marketing Aboriginal Art in the 1990s (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1990).

Taylor's detailed account of Western Arnhem Land art adds significantly to the work begun by Morphy and Munn concerning one of the most important art-producing regions of the world. ... detailed and well-written study ... interesting analysis of how art is tied to the social fabric of Kunwinjku life.

• 1. Introduction ; 2. The development of the market for bark paintings in western Arnhem Land ; 3. Kunwinjku social organization and land ownership ; 4. Apprenticeship and the social identity of artists ; 5. Themes and paintings in ceremonies ; 6. Formal components of bark paintings ; 7. Iconic representation ; 8. Transforming figures ; 9. The meaning of x-ray paintings ; 10. Metaphors and socialization ; Conclusion: Innovation and social reproduction ; Appendix: Glossary of Kunwinjku words

Luke Taylor is a Senior Curator at the National Museum of Australia. He has worked for the Australian Federal Government's Review of the Aboriginal Artsa and Crafts Industry, and held a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. In 1995/6 he was a visiting scholar at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan. He has published articles on Australian Aboriginal art and society, and he is co-editor of Marketing Aboriginal Art in the 1990s (Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1990).

Taylor's detailed account of Western Arnhem Land art adds significantly to the work begun by Morphy and Munn concerning one of the most important art-producing regions of the world. ... detailed and well-written study ... interesting analysis of how art is tied to the social fabric of Kunwinjku life.

• 1. Introduction ; 2. The development of the market for bark paintings in western Arnhem Land ; 3. Kunwinjku social organization and land ownership ; 4. Apprenticeship and the social identity of artists ; 5. Themes and paintings in ceremonies ; 6. Formal components of bark paintings ; 7. Iconic representation ; 8. Transforming figures ; 9. The meaning of x-ray paintings ; 10. Metaphors and socialization ; Conclusion: Innovation and social reproduction ; Appendix: Glossary of Kunwinjku words